


Kya's Daughter and the Fire Lord's Son

by tafih



Category: Avatar (TV), Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:22:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2525489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tafih/pseuds/tafih
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's funny how Destiny works out. </p><p>A story about Katara, Zuko, Kya, Zuko's daughter, General Iroh, Kya's non-canon daughter, the power of names, and the potential between water and flame.<br/>So basically, Zutara in various forms. The rating may change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Katara

******KATARA**

Katara knew she wanted to name her future daughter "Kya" after her beloved mother and for a while she knew that she would share that daughter with Aang.

But before Aang proposed to Katara, they spent a considerable time apart. Katara as an emissary of the Southern Water Tribe to the newly formed United Republic of Nations and Aang as the Avatar, traveling the globe to preserve and purvey harmony and bringing converted people to take on the livelihood of the Air Acolytes.

They would be separated for three years.

By the end of the first year, attempts at communication had lessened considerably although their love for each other was strong. Still, when Aang visited after the second, they decided that if they had to be apart then they would be, in order to prevent further and greater heartache.

So for three years, Katara helped establish Republic City and what it stood for and for three years, Katara was confused.

She knew the vision she had of her future with Aang and believed in it, in its diversity, in its truth. But she had considerable doubts.

One night, in a moment of vulnerability, Katara lashed out and Zuko was her target. He visited Republic City to buttress the effort in forming an army for the United Republic of Nations, an effort that she was deeply averse to.

During a meeting with him, Katara let her confusion and the culmination of the stresses in her daily life consume her and in a lapse of judgment and maturity, she raged. She raged like a hurricane and ravaged his office into oblivion but she did regain herself.

She fell into her friend's arms and sobbed into his robes.

Zuko folded his arms around her and softly, quietly, gently, whispered.

He whispered that he knew that she was hurt but reminded her that she was strong and would get through this.

He whispered that Aang loved her more than anything in the world but practicality and reality sometimes drives people apart.

She whispered in return that she knew that he was right and asked how he handled it when Mai left him.

He whispered that he just kept persevering; that focusing on his calling as the Fire Lord and surrounding himself with people he loved and trusted allowed him to find a semblance of peace through his struggles.

She asked if she was one of those people he loved and trusted.

He responded with reminiscing about the time she healed him, when she finally learned to trust him; how she refused to murder her mother's murderer; how from that moment on, he fully and completely respected her, trusted her and yes, loved her.

As a friend.

She healed him and she changed his life forever. He would never forget that.

She smiled.

He diverted the conversation to the issue of the army and how the United Republic of Nations perhaps did not need one since an army implies war, that forces would imply murder.

She commented on how radical pacifism is not what ended the Hundred Year War, that this new nation of an unique ideology would need a force to defend it, that her temper interfered with her acknowledgement of the pragmatic, and that he was right again.

She revealed that although she has the tendency to yell at him, that after he saved her from Azula's attack, she also fully and completely respected him, trusted him and yes, in some ways, loved him.

As a friend too.

They chuckled and then in the sudden moment, shared a chaste kiss.

But water and flame shared no further dance that night. No, that would come another time.

Still, he held her until the dawn.

After that night, Katara remained close to Zuko in a manner she did not think was possible before. But in due course, Aang returned to her and decided that even though he was the Avatar and was devoted to his calling, he wanted to be just as devoted to Katara. So he established an Air Temple in the city and he established a life with her.

And to Katara, that night was soon forgotten.

* * *

But whenever she sees her young Kya playing with Zuko's little Izumi in temples during infrequent but needed visits, she closes her eyes.

Then she wonders about what could have been.

 


	2. Zuko

**ZUKO**

Zuko wanted to name his future daughter after his mother despite the original Ursa's decision to take on a completely new life and family during her exile. So even though she was a different person, Ursa was still his beloved mother.

But like her, other women who he cherished seemed to disappear from his life.

As he dealt with the Harmony Restoration Movement, Mai had left him.

As he performed his duties as a young Fire Lord, Toph never had the chance for that special "field trip" with him.

Even his tie to Azula vanished.

As he tried to establish the United Forces, he feared Katara might leave him too. So as she rampaged against him, he desperately held onto her. Because, at that moment, he needed her just as much as she needed him.

He held her to his beating chest and revealed how he cares for her and how he really does care what she thinks of him.

He realized then, how much Katara truly meant to him, how much of an impact she alone had had on his life, how connected they were despite their opposing elements, how one could not survive without the other, how his ties with others was not as weak as he had seemed.

Despite himself and his friendship with the Avatar, he admitted all of this to her.

He held her until the dawn. And cherished that moment ever since.

But although he realized that he loved Katara, he knew that Aang did too. So although he loved her, he could not. She deserved Aang and he knew that he needed to repair past solecisms with Mai.

So together, they grew stronger and while their different lives drew them apart to different, it did not sever their bond.

Soon, Zuko matured into a fine man and an even better Fire Lord - he managed his temper, sharpened his skills and pursued his work, his calling, his loves, and Mai.

He regained Mai's affections thanks to advice given to him by the newly engaged Katara. Their marriage was a spectacular event and he made sure Katara's was one too – for both her and Aang's sake.

* * *

Years later, when their first daughter was born, Zuko asked Mai if he could name her "Ursa" but she insisted on another name. So "Izumi" became a fountain of joy in his life.

But when their second child was born, Zuko lost both his new daughter – a daughter who would have been his Ursa, and Mai – who should have lived with him until they shared a dying breath. Despite being a strong woman with a strong countenance, Mai could not sustain her heart during the delivery and her life had waned. The child followed in a similar manner.

Zuko spent years in mourning and even more years protecting his precious daughter, his precious Izumi, because he didn't want to lose another woman he loved.

* * *

Whenever he calls for Izumi so they can feed the turtle-ducks together, he wonders if he would have lost his beloved first-born too if he had called her "Ursa" just like he lost his mother and daughter.

He resolves to reinforce the ties he does have and his mind wanders to  _her_ , a fountain in her own right.

Then he wonders about what could have been.


	3. Kya

**KYA**

Kya has always been secretly and incredibly proud of her secret and incredible daughter.

Kya named her "Kateeri," the pure one.

But the family she left Kateeri with called her "Mae Young" since it was a name more suited to the Earth nation legacy that the young girl was born into.

Only Bumi and her mother know about her since Kya feared Tenzin would judge for having a child out of wedlock.

When her father, the great and mighty Avatar, died, Kya showed Katara a photo of her.

"She's beautiful," Katara murmured, "Reminds me of how you were at that age,"

"Actually, I think she looked more like you, Mom," Kya laughed, "At least, from what I can tell from your old photographs. That's why I based her name after yours."

It was true. At the ripe young age of sixteen, Kateeri undoubtedly took after her grandmother with the silhouette of her face, her build and her dark blue eyes. Her long waves of hair, however, were a shade of black chocolate instead of a luscious brown.

But the photo Kya had with her was old and tattered, taken when Kya was a younger mother and Kateeri only seven years old.

"Is she a waterbender?" Katara asked.

Kya's spirits rose. "Yes, and she's incredible! She picked it up so well when we travelled together. She's not much of a healer but she's great, Mom. She truly is."

"You must miss her,"

Kya's face fell, "Just as much as you probably miss Dad." Her voice breaks. Tears began to form and fall.

"I'm so sorry, Mom. I…I should have been a better mother and a better daughter. I should have-,"

Katara placed her hand on Kya's shoulder and softly spoke, "Your father and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter and I know for a fact that  _your_  daughter loves you just as much as I do,"

But Kya continues to sob, "No, she doesn't."

While Kya had been proud of Kateeri, her guilt was just as great. Because she left her daughter to be Mae Young.

* * *

When Kya went to go find herself as a young woman many years ago, she ended up finding Kateeri's father in the Fire Nation.

His name was Hyong. His father was a minor Earth Nation official that served the council to the Fire Lord. His mother was the descendent of a powerful Earth Nation family, the Changs. He himself was a lover of simple things, of philosophy, of small adventures. Kya was easily added onto that list.

He told her he instantly fell in love with her large, blue and angry eyes. She told him that he was a naïve sycophant.

But soon, his slumped shoulders, his turtle-eyed glasses, his stutter and the fact that he spent more time with books than with people compelled her to him and he became hers. They had their trysts in her small studio apartment in the heart of the Fire Nation Capitol.

She remembered the searches for cool fabric underneath her pillow as she fought against the blanketing humidity. She remembered the siren of the June-cicadas harmonizing with the consistent thumping of redevelopment construction across the street. She remembered how he would sit at her low table, reading a dated book on Air Bender philosophy in a way that suited the image of the studious politician's son that he is.

His practically naked body sitting in her apartment did not, however.

It was only in that apartment that they loved with a passion she had not known in any other way prior or afterwards. Together, their passion could not be bounded and from their bond, Kateeri was conceived. But it was only after Kya had left that their daughter had been born.

Kateeri's father died in an accident that Kya had caused. So she fled into the deserts of the Earth Kingdom and birthed Kateeri in an oasis. Hand in hand, mother and daughter, they traveled the nation and loved and laughed. Kya's little daughter became  _her_  oasis in the desert of despair and solitude.

But when Kateeri's power-starved paternal grandmother learned of their existence, she grappled Kya's free spirit to the estate. The family needed an heir. Kateeri needed to be Mae Young. Kya was simply the surrogate mother to bring the family legacy back to fruition.

Confined within the cage of society, Kya suffered abuse after abuse by her mother-in-law while Kateeri was indoctrinated to be Mae Young.

Finally, when Mae Young turned 10, Kya confronted Hyong's mother and seethed, "You can't tie me down."

"Very well, then, leave! See if I care, you whore." Hyong's mother huffed.

"I am the Avatar's daughter, you monster! You  **cannot** treat me this way."

"That. Is. IT! Leave and never return!"

The older lady dug her grip into the shoulder of Kya's daughter.  _Her_ daughter.

Kya grimaced in horror.

"Grandmother, you're hurting me," Kateeri's small voice muttered. "Where is mommy going? I want to go with her!"

"Be quiet," the old woman ordered the girl, "Mae Young, you will be staying here."

"Leave her alone!" Kya yelled, "You're crazy if you think I'm going without her."

"No, you're daft if you believe otherwise! This child is of the Chang family and will remain here under my guidance."

Kya quickly readied a stream from her water skins above her head, manifesting her boiling and frothing anger, "She's  _my_  daughter and she's coming with me!"

Hearing "Take her away!" and feeling the family guards grab at her limbs was enough to push Kya into a frenzy. A cry left her lips and Kya attacked.

But like a firebender with no restraint, the young and bitter Kya had no control and before she knew it, her daughter was lying on the ground sobbing from an agonizing wound on her shoulder made from ice – a scar that the girl would bear well into adulthood.

Kya fell to her knees and watched her child, her Kateeri, run into another woman's arms as the guards pulled her away and away.

* * *

Kya never saw her daughter again until the young girl of Kateeri became the young woman of Mae Young.

Nearly six years.

For nearly six years, Kya tried to forget about her life in Fire Nation and only when everything seemed like lifetimes ago, Kya ventured into the country again to visit her old friend, the daughter of the Fire Lord. Izumi - with eyes gleaming behind her wired glasses - welcomed Kya to the palace with open and eager arms.

Kya smiled weakly as she was led around the large mansion and finally into a tea room where both women prattled on about the extents of their lives. Kya spoke about her adventures abroad and her intent to whisk away to the edges of the seas to explore what the world could offer and maps could not. Izumi sighed with wistful jealousy then voiced her utter thankfulness in seeing Kya again.

"I missed you and your visits," the princess murmured into her tea, "It's been lonely."

"Oh, I'm sure. With your husband's passing and Iroh off with the United Forces."

Izumi sighed her sorrows in and then slowly out. "Yes, it has." The princess turned to her friend, "Which is why I'm thankful you're here." 

* * *

 

While Izumi started explaining about her attempts at reforming relations with both Water Tribes, a woman of sixteen came in to discuss administrative matters.

"Oh, Kya. This is my assistant, Mae Young," Izumi noted, gesturing to her.

Kya swerved and stood, her eyes fixated on this girl with full dark hair framing a dark beige complexion illuminated by dark indigo eyes.

"Kateeri?"

Mae Young transfigured into Kateeri through silence and tears. The girl covered her face with her hands, collapsed onto the carpet, and wept out a faint "Mother."

Kya ran to her, held her and sobbed apology after apology.

"Kateeri, my dear Kateeri, I am so sorry. I'm sorry that you had to have me as your mother. I'm sorry that I couldn't do more. I'm sorry that I didn't take you away from her."

Kateeri gripped the folds of her mother's skirts. "I know why you couldn't. I know and I understand. But there will always be a part of me that is angry at you for leaving me behind with her," she sniffed. "You don't understand how awful she is to me. How awful she is to everyone."

"I'm sorry," is all Kya mutters, "I am so sorry."

They stay like this for hours.

Kateeri weeping into her mother's lap. Kya trembling while she caressing her daughter.

"Can you forgive me?" Kya finally whispered.

"Of course," Kateeri gave her a weak smile, "You're my mother."

* * *

Izumi easily made accommodations for the two to spend enough time with each other throughout the following year. Kya finally felt like the mother she thought she needed to be and Kateeri finally had the mother she thought she needed.

But when Aang died suddenly within that year, Kya knew that she had to be with Katara.

"So you're leaving me? Again?" Kateeri asked, in horror.

"Kateeri, my father - your grandfather – the  _Avatar_  died. I need to be with my mother."

"And I can't be with mine?!"

"Come with me then! You can meet everyone and it'll be-,"

"I can't!"

"Why not?" Kya pleaded.

"You don't seem to understand that I have a life here. I have responsibilities. I can't just drop everything and go with you."

"But Izumi will understand, she'll-,"

" _Princess_  Izumi and Fire Lord Zuko will both probably go to the Avatar's funeral- meaning that someone needs to be  _here_  and maintain-,"

"Kateeri, he's  _your_  grandfather."

"A grandfather that  ** _I_** never knew. How could you expect me to…Mother, I can't," the girl muttered dejectedly. " _This_  is the life I know. And Lady Izumi is not the only one who has control over my life," Kateeri says bitterly. "There's a reason that I am called 'Mae Young'."

So this time, Kateeri left Kya.

This time, Kateeri chose to be "Mae Young."

* * *

Kya voyaged a great distance from the Fire Nation to the Southern Water tribe, spending the time travelling to ruminate on why her daughter would choose to be with a domineering old hag over her – to be "Mae Young" instead of her "Kateeri."

But she had to admit that she was proud that Mae Young had a better grasp on life than she ever would be, and more mature than she had been at that age. Deciding to be with Katara may be the only responsible thing Kya had ever thought to do.

Still, as Kya spent time with her own mother, she thinks about what would happen if she herself had been a better mother to her daughter.

She wonders what could have been.

* * *

A/N: I gave Kya's daughter two names to capture the situation she and many others find themselves in - at a crossroads of their identity.

"Kateeri" is based on "Kateri," a Native American name based off of "Katherine", meaning pure. I figured it would be fitting since it was similar to "Katara."

The Earth kingdom is based off a collaboration of many Asian cultures but refers to Korean culture most heavily so I based the name of "Mae Young" after "Mi-Young," a common Korean unisex name and a lot of character traits/bg off of my own mother who is ethnically Korean. "Mae" is a reference to Mae Whitman - the voice actress of Katara.


	4. Izumi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I usually put these at the bottom but a forewarning there's some f/f stuff and it can get a little mature. If that's not your thing, then please ignore. If it is, then enjoy (even though it's my first attempt at this kind of stuff)!

**IZUMI**

Izumi has always been incredibly proud of her incredible son. As soon as he was born and the midwives placed his small wrinkled body – wrapped in red – into the nest of her arms, she loved him with defining maternity.

She cared for him as he grew into a fine man worthy of the namesake she bestowed him. She loved him, yes. But affection was hard.

While other mothers hugged their boys, Izumi resorted to gentle pats on his head.

While other wives embraced their husbands, Izumi had no desire in between crimson sheets.

While other daughters kissed their fathers, Izumi shared a pot of tea with hers.

She loved the people in her life but in the subtlest of fashions.

Laughter, stares, caresses, touching – skin against skin – had no value in her eyes.

So the way Izumi loved Kya was distinct.

Because the princess wanted nothing more than to feel the smooth beige of the waterbender's body.

* * *

Izumi loved Kya.

She loved her desperately. She loved her eyes, her hair, her voice. She loved her stride, her aura, her humor, her lithe and free spirit – everything about Kya, Izumi loved and in a way that no one could ever accept.

She loved Kya in a way that even she could not accept for a long time.

The acknowledgement of this deep and utterly unique affection did not come upon the princess suddenly but like the tide, had risen above and over her – slowly consuming her over the years.

Because affection was hard for the blossoming princess. But not when it came to Kya.

Izumi remembers when Kya first came to play in the halls of the palace. She remembers her little adolescent self being drawn out from her armor of introversion and thrust into a brighter and vibrant world by the laughter of a mischievous waterbender.

She remembers cherishing each moment spent together as they grew from little adolescents into young women.

She remembers the night she realized the full extent of her ardor – the night of her wedding.

She undoubtedly cared about her husband, the only man who she ever considered worthy to be a partner to the future Fire Lord. But that was that.

She respected him as a friend and a colleague; it was out of this respect that she decided to marry him as early as she did. Her father was getting anxious since she was getting dangerously close to marriageable age without any interest or substantial options even though the Fire Lord himself married and sired Izumi in his late twenties. Still, when a respected member of Fire Nation nobility, no less, approached her with a marriage proposal, Izumi knew that the match would be wise decision.

He was a good choice among her  _options_ , after all.

Kya could never be an option.

But when Izumi first saw Kya dance, she wanted Kya to be.

To celebrate the union, Kya danced. In the decorated courtyard underneath the moon, Kya danced with smooth, sumptuous movements in each sway and whirl– like water down a creek.

For Izumi, it was the best and worst wedding present.

Any suave movement Kya would make would generate electricity and Izumi would relish the sensation as it darted down her spine and sparked in the small of her back.

She realized then and there that the spirituality, the mythology, the mysticism of that moment would be forever engrained in her soul but only with that moment. Never again would she feel this way. 

And she became obsessed with water.

She wanted to satisfy the conflagration burning, smoldering, singing and charring her core. She wanted to drown.

And on that night, the opportunity for her to drown had come.

* * *

 Izumi brought an intoxicated Kya to the guest quarters hours well into the wedding night, after everyone else had left either drunk or satisfied. Even her new husband had retired for the night at an early hour due to his weak constitution.

The Princess waived the servants off when they tried to help her with the chuckling daughter of the Avatar. So they were alone when she laid her friend upon the bed, who quickly fell in a deep sleep due to the alcohol in her system and fervor of the party.

Izumi descended into the folds of the bed beside her.

She brushed away her hair.

She cupped her face.

She kissed her lips.

The fountain erupted.

* * *

Izumi remembers the night she caught Kya with her lover in the streets of the city a few years after Iroh was born.

She remembers the pure bliss enveloping their faces manifesting in a glorious glow.

She remembers the passion in their kisses, the ardor of their locked stares, the outward demonstration of an affection that she could only experience in secret.

She remembers running.

She remembers crying.

She remembers the fountain cracking.

* * *

Izumi never knew why Mae Young initially captured her attention but when she learned of the girl's parentage, it all became clear.

Then she sometimes worries whether she appointed the girl to be her assistant simply because she reminded her of Kya. But Mae Young's credentials justified her presence at Izumi's side. The girl was teachable but astute, tempestuous but passionate, wild but kind.

Under Izumi's guidance, the girl grew into a thoughtful and competent person the Crown Princess trusted and cared for thoroughly.

When they learned of Aang's passing, Izumi was shocked to learn that Mae Young – or rather, Kateeri – opted not to go.

She asked her young assistant, "Why did you are you staying? Avatar Aang was your grandfather. You of all people should attend the wake."

"But he was more of your friend than he was my grandfather, ma'am. So you and your father must go and when you do, someone must stay here to act in your stead especially with Prince Iroh gone. I know that it might have been presumptuous of me to assume that I would be worthy enough but if you allow it, I would be honored to act on behalf of your wishes here."

Izumi knew that while the girl spoke the truth, she lied. Izumi and her father both trusted Mae Young enough with running the day-to-day tasks of the palace during their absence – that was not the issue but rather, an excuse. It was not the girl's duty to them that dissuaded her from attending the funeral. Izumi knew it was her strange attachment to her grandmother.

Something then flared in the deepest suppressed confines of her emotions – Izumi  _loved_  Mae Young.

Not in the way that she loved the girl's mother but in the way she wanted to love her son.

She wanted to hold the girl, wrap her in the cloth of her red robes, and whisper kind words into her ears.

So she did.

Then she cupped her face.

She kissed her forehead.

And the fountain flowed again.

"Do not force yourself," Izumi muttered, "Neither to do what you do not want nor to do nothing when you want to."

Words that she could finally mutter to herself.

* * *

Two years after that moment, Izumi found herself doing those things again when Mae Young appeared at the palace in tears and tatters during the darkest hours of the night. Much of her belongings stuffed into a leather sack by her side.

"I love you," was all Izumi said to the girl as she rocked her in the empty and lonely halls. "You will always have a place here."

And that was true. Zuko and Izumi easily gave the girl her own chambers within the massive palace, both pleased to have another partner to have tea with.

Steadily, Izumi no longer found affection difficult.

* * *

Another two years passed and when Iroh visited home after achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United Forces Navy, Izumi greeted him with a peck on his cheek.

His golden eyes widened. "Mother?" his voice wavered as he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, of course I am. Do you want some tea? Mae Young made a pot of jasmine a while ago."

He faltered but followed nonetheless.

Upon entering her office, however, Mae Young was nowhere to be found. The pot of tea had gone cold.

Izumi sidled from her office, through the empty halls, to and out of the throne room, and even ventured into Mae's quarters.

"This is so strange," Izumi muttered as she put her hand to her chin in contemplation.

"Did you give her the day off?" Iroh asked, stroking  _his_  chin (neither of them ever realized that they shared this habit with Lord Zuko). "She doesn't seem like the type to cast aside her work."

"Well, she does know I went out to greet you. Maybe she thought I wouldn't be coming in but-,"

Then they both heard the distinct sound of a zither and drums. Izumi strode straight towards the source, her son trailing a few feet behind her, and found herself peeking into the typically unused dojos.

She smiled at what she saw.

Mae Young was dancing.

To the tune of a nearby gramophone, the young woman caressed the air around her with her form. She painted the space with her hands, limbs and then with water in smooth and vibrant brushstrokes. But when the drums sounded, she thrust out into the ether, water crackling into ice, her movements suspiciously similar to basic firebending and earthbending forms. But most remarkably, she danced with the same finesse as her mother did.

Izumi drunk in the sight with a slow and wistful breath.

"You dance, Mae Young?" she finally asked humoredly after realizing that the girl failed to notice them creep in to watch.

Mae Young swerved around in horror, losing control of the water, allowing it dowse her in a comedic splash.

"Lady Izumi! I just…I thought you would be spending the evening with your son after his return." Her words stumbled through her embarrassment as she wiped her face and grabbed at her wet clothes in a panic.

Izumi held back a chuckle.

"Oh forgive me!" Mae Young straightened up, "Welcome back, Prin- _Lieutenant_  Commander Iroh. Congratulations on your promotion," she managed to collect herself and bowed respectfully.

"Thank you, Mae Young. It's good to see you again," he chuckled then bowed back. The princess does not fail to notice a slight twinge of red coloring his cheeks.

"Kateeri," the waterbender corrected. "I wish to go by Kateeri now. It is the name my mother gave me."

Izumi tilted her head at first in confusion but then smiled it off. The girl looked resolved and it was not until later that Izumi learned that Kateeri's grandmother had passed away suddenly earlier that week. So there was no longer anything tying her to the name of "Mae Young."

"Well then,  _Kateeri_ , why don't you dance for us?"

Kateeri immediately shook her head. "No, I-,"

"I've already seen enough to know that you're as good as your mother. You must show her your skill when she visits again."

"But, my lady, I-."

"This is an order, Kateeri."

The girl looked defeated then sheepishly asked if she could dry herself off first. "I'm still not at the level of bending water out of clothes."

"Yes, of course," Izumi laughed and in a few moments, she sat at a low table in the dojo to have tea with her son and watch the bashful young woman.  _Kateeri_  was a woman now, indeed, reaching her twentieth year months prior, although her body displayed the charms of womanhood long before and was doing so now. Even her son could see that.

So Izumi watches the young girl dance, watches her son try to hide his sustained stares, and as the years pass, watches an affection emerge between water and flame in a way that could never be realized by or within her.

So as she laments on what never was, she wonders about what could have been.


	5. Kateeri

****

**KATEERI**

Kateeri hated that she loved her grandmother.

The woman was misery manifest. And she made sure that everyone around her was just as miserable.

Kateeri learned during her years as Mae Young that her grandparents and their families were secretly against the new age brought about the Avatar and Fire Lord Zuko since they benefited from Ozai's rule in unimaginable ways. But their obsession with maintaining status overshadowed any fealty sworn to the short-lived Phoenix King. So when someone new came to power, they performed to the new song of harmony.

"A family of sycophants," is what she remembered her mother calling them.

Kateeri missed her terribly – having nothing to remember her by except for distant nostalgia and a scar on her shoulder that her grandmother constantly reminded her of.

She hated her grandmother because of that.

She knew that her grandmother hated her too for the same reason.

* * *

But she still loved her grandmother.

So – in strenuous shifts marked by years of imposed silence- Kateeri became Mae Young. Because she thought if she did then maybe, just maybe, her grandmother would love her too.

Even after her reunion with her beautiful mother and an opportunity to leave all of it behind, Mae Young remained.

She even refused to go to the Avatar's funeral and after Princess Izumi urged her. In her mind, Kateeri naively hoped that her grandmother could take some pride in a dutiful Mae Young despite the fact that the miserable woman took a life that she might have known from her.

But that was never the case.

So Mae Young stayed behind to file paperwork and cry because her grandmother would only respond with her favorite phrase: "Don't be a whore like your mother."

She hated how the old miserable woman said, "whore" with such conviction and venom.

She hated that she loved her grandmother.

* * *

That almost changed when her grandmother told Mae Young whom she was to marry on the eve of her eighteenth birthday.

Mae Young's grandmother was shrewd, if nothing else. As soon as she observed the state of the family coffers, the old woman immediately struck a match with a wealthy merchant family since nobility was dying and businesses were rising due to the onset of the new era.

Unbeknownst to Mae Young, the betrothal was arranged as soon as she was of marriageable age.

Her fiancé's name was Hideki. She met him a month after she turned eighteen when his family came to visit them in the Fire Nation Capital to finalize the nuptials. The merger would be key in the preservation of both business and name so their wedding was to be held within the coming year.

Mae Young found Hideki to be a braggart but witty and charming nonetheless – and actually enjoyed the time she spent with him.

 _Perhaps, it wouldn't be too bad_ , she mused.

But as soon as the night fell, he savagely ran his lips over her skin, violently grappled his grubby hands over her breasts and fumbled in trying to undo her robes.

"We'll be married anyways so  _when_  doesn't really matter," he reasoned as he squeezed and tore.

So she lied about her menses and fled without another word, returning to her room in tears because part of her wanted to vomit and another was desperate to be desired.

So another day passed and again Hideki tried to slither his hands over her body during the hours of dusk. Again, she spent the night in tears, terrified at the possibility that she might be  _used_  forever.

* * *

"I don't want to marry him," she finally announced to her grandmother the next evening at the table when Hideki's family left their home.

The matron just stood up and slapped her while Mae Young's decrepit grandfather just kept on eating in slow bites.

"You whore's daughter, I did everything in my power to make you who you are and you  _dare_  to disrespect me with this defiance. If you know your place, you  _will_  marry him next summer or else."

Kateeri finally snapped. "Or else  **what**?" she slammed her fists onto the table and raised her gaze to meet hers in deliberate defiance. "For eight years, you have called me the daughter of a whore. But he _already_ treats me like a whore and I do not intend to be treated like one for the rest of my life."

The old woman slapped her again. "Don't you dare talk to me like that again and lower your obstinate gaze, you fat,  _impudent_  bastard-child. You know better. It is a wife's duty is to serve her husband. Feel lucky that he would even desire you," she harangued as she sat back down in her decorated chair.

Then continued to huff, "So from next summer on, you will be his whore and you will  _at least_ do it with honor. Something your harlot-mother failed to do by taking away my only son."

"My mother is  _not_ a whore," the girl smoldered and reestablished her frigid glare; her cheeks still red from the impact.

"Do  _not_  make me hit you again."

Kateeri ignored her, seething, "My mother was the daughter of the former Avatar, a friend to the Fire Lord and a wonderful woman who  _you_ -," she suddenly stood, _"-_ made abandon me."

"So you would have preferred to be gallivanting off with a woman who had no morals and none of the honor her father had? Sit down, Mae Young! Or I will have you beaten by the servants."

"No." Kateeri stepped away from her seat and towards her with each unyielding word. "I will  _not_ marry Hideki and I will  _not_  have you calling my mother a whore any longer."

Her grandmother grabbed a nearby simmering tea pot and attempted to crash it over the girl's head – it had happened twice before.

But this time, Kateeri stopped her. She felt the hot porcelain of the pot sear the skin of her palm but she also felt the scalding water at her command.

She never broke her obstinate gaze.

Kateeri threw the pot down onto the table, her eyes unwavering from their scorn and their target. Then the water all around them started to rise – from the shattered pot, the cups, the soup bowls, even the pond outside the dining hall.

Mae Young may have been a repressed waterbender but Kateeri was a waterbender remembered. In her anger, she controlled a frightening power and for the first time, Kateeri's grandmother looked frightened.

But her disdain was still foremost.

"You know your bending is forbidden!" the matron shrieked at the pools floating menacingly above her.

"I don't care," Kateeri spat with such raw force that the water around her started to crepitate into ice.

"You will and  _have_  brought shame onto this family," her grandmother screamed.

"I was never a part of this family." Kateeri retorted, her words are biting and arctic as her glare and she poised herself for the attack. "You made sure of that."

Then she struck.

Water rushed forth and up, drowning the old woman in upwards geyser until she collapsed onto the floor completely encapsulated in ice with only her head out in the open air.

Kateeri lowered her arms and her breathing heaved in the silence, the awareness of the repercussions starting to creep through her anger.

She turned to her grandfather, who still sat at the table as if unaware of what just occurred but he finally spoke – for the first time in months.

He feebly pushed himself up by his cane and pointed out the door, "Leave."

That was enough for her.

So through her tears, she stuffed her belongings into a leather bag, kissed the servants who were pained to see her go and ran with an old scar on her shoulder and a new one on her hand.

* * *

Her worries after that point on were of a different sort because in a very different way, Kateeri hated that she loved Iroh.

She first met the charming and endearing prince when her grandmother forced her to wear a jade qipao and bow to numerous Fire Nation officials and their families in a sea of red. She was thirteen.

She remembered how she thought him handsome but tried to disregard him since a multitude of upper-class daughters and socialites crowded him into a corner of the decadent ballroom. She refused to be one of  _those_  kinds of girls.

She remembered the he had eventually escaped to the balcony where she ventured to after escaping herself.

She remembered the delight that sprung forth during their brief but memorable encounter – even though they just talked about the weather.

She remembered her beating heart, her clammy hands, her burning cheeks. She remembered being in love.

* * *

So her years as Princess Izumi's assistant were littered with stolen glances and secret sighs.

She had other… _interests_ , certainly (that all ended disgustingly). But something inexplicably drew her to him and she hated that.

Nearly everything she did was to be sure that his opinion of her was favorable – she recalled  _accidentally_  fixing her posture whenever he would pass by her desk,  _accidentally_ running into him on numerous occasions,  _accidentally_ putting on some makeup and fixing her hair when he would visit intermittently during his years of military service.

She hated how much control he unknowingly had over her life.

He was a remarkable young man - she obviously understood that and  _everyone_  knew that he was a man that deserved respect. But beyond that truth, she simply found him to be an extraordinary human being and an even better friend.

He tousled her hair, retorted to her sarcasm, gave her advice about her work, laughed at her awkward quips, complimented her dancing and watched over her with what she thought was affection.

So there were moments when she wondered that maybe, just maybe, he returned her feelings.

But then she noted the way he talked to other women closer to his age, observed the girls he would bring to his mother during infrequent visits, discovered a pretty socialite straddling his torso in his chambers one night.

Then there was that one moment she closed her heart to him.

* * *

It would all change after that.

"You had a fiancé, didn't you?" he asked once after he hands her a signed report from his mother.

Anger starts to boil. "Yes," she nearly spat, taking it from him and stamping it furiously.

"Things didn't work out, I'm assuming?"

"I didn't  _want_  things to work out," she files it away. "I got tired of people – of  _men –_ exploiting me."

He appears stunned. "I'm sure not all men exploit-,"

"Yes, all men," she cuts him off, acknowledging the rising frustration. "Why else would things 'not work out' – ever?"

She feels her insides boil in rancor and spite. He knew nothing about her fiancé, or about the scores of men who assumed that she owed them her body for simply giving her flowers and buying her dinner.

He knew nothing. And he knows nothing.

"But-,"

"Please leave," she tries to maintain her professionalism with each acidic word, "I have a lot of paperwork to get through."

She adds a sharp, "Your highness," with an obligatory smile.

That was all it took.

It all changed after that.

She still respected him but she had cut that tie.

* * *

Until he tethered himself to her and it would all change again.

* * *

Nearly half of a year passes.

Iroh becomes promoted from Lieutenant Commander to Commander close to his 23rd birthday. So, of course, Lord Zuko throws a festive party in tandem celebration.

She contemplates gifting him with an assortment of teas but settles with a simple painted scroll.

He thanks her.

The party rages then dies. But Kateeri is hardly present for its ebb and flow, opting rather to stay in her quarters where she can practice waterbending in peace. But Kateeri does stay up late that night to go over the minutes from a meeting earlier that week that she completed incorrectly.

When the moon reaches her peak, Kateeri descends into a bout of grumbling and suddenly hears rustling and a distinct "Oomph" outside her open window.

She peers out to see the prince clutching onto pillar, obviously inebriated. She groans as she goes out to fetch him, correctly concluding that he must have gotten more drinks with his fellow officers after the formal party ended.

"How many drinks did you have?" she rushes to him as he is about to tumble to the ground where shadows of fluttering curtains make their stage.

He is heavy but she still manages him to sling his arm over her shoulders.

"It was just sake," he slurs as they slowly make their way to his chambers.

She slightly resents him for this since it is too late for any of the servants to bring him to his bed for her. She has other work to do but  _she_  is the one to drag his drunk ass to bed.

"How many?" Kateeri asks again, insistently.

"Five-m" he sounds uncertain, "Maybe six,"

"This is what you get for being too nice," she crosses the threshold to his chambers and opts to set him down on the divan instead of his bed further into the room.

"Hmmm?"

"You should have refused after the third. You know you can't take alcohol very well." She flings the rest of his body down on the divan with a huff. She rearranges his shoulders into better comfort with a firm but gentle grip.

Then she dares to half-joke, "Someone could very easily take advantage of your current state."

He chuckles. "I would not mind that," he mumbles out as he tenderly takes hold of her hand. "If it were  **you** ,"

* * *

Her heart careens into her stomach but before she could do or say anything, he pulls her down and seizes a strong and unyielding kiss. She feels his heat and hers collide in a fervent storm as his breath envelops her even after he takes his firm, addictive lips away.

Her cheeks simmer with a chilling fire as she deals with the aftershock and the engulfing electricity overpowering her. She swears she's trembling.

Iroh, meanwhile, fastens his gaze straight through her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure that I only let myself get drunk for the sole purpose of giving you the opportunity to take advantage of me," he admits with surprising pedantry. "I even made it to your room," he chuckles.

"What are you talking about?"

He brings her in closer, his eyes mere inches from hers, his lips a mere whisper away.

"You said that you are tired of people exploiting you."

"And?" she breathes.

"Then exploit _me_."

With that, he binds himself to her again – to the tie she swore was cut forever.

_._

_Everything_  erupts.

.

She forces him down further into the red cushions of the divan and conquers his lips with hers, his tongue with hers– each crevice of his sumptuous mouth is a frontier she is desperate to explore.

Temptation floods her senses.

She wants to shred his clothes. She wants to devour him. She wants to claim everything she sees with her hungry lips and her hasty touch.

But when she releases herself from the addiction of his mouth for a rapid breath, she sinks away.

Fear suddenly conquers her lust and she pauses. Then with a suppressed breath, she throws herself off of him and runs.

She runs.

He does not follow and she aches at the thought and yet is still relieved that she is alone with her turmoil as she rushes into her quarters.

The sensation, the fire, the buzz does not leave – instead it festers and broils in her womanhood. She scarcely reaches her bed before she falls at its foot and keels to her moans.

"I'm being overdramatic," she mutters as she turns and sits, her back to the bed, her chest heaving. "I – oh, Agni-,"

Her breaths hitch and something peaks inside of her.

She quells her cries but his name undoubtedly leaves her in the absolute agony of an overwrought whisper. So she puts one hand over her mouth to suffocate her whimpers and the other over her womanhood in a desperate attempt for fulfillment and release.

When it comes, she sinks to the floor, her breathing staggering.

And she just lies there.

* * *

He  _won_. By submitting to her, this man she hated loving had complete and utter control over her lusts and her heart.

And that cannot be.

* * *

She wakes a few hours later, collects herself, and warily ventures back to his room where she finds him fast asleep, sprawled on the divan.

She turns on her heels and marches towards the kitchen when she hears him groan.

It was probably four in the morning but she didn't care to check, the fact that the kitchen was empty was all she is concerned about.

She pulls out a glass from the rack of clean dishes and fills it half full with water. She grabs two raw komodo chicken eggs, ground wasabi ginger root, salt, menthol crystals and sesame mint leaves. Leave it to the Royal Kitchens to have absolutely everything.

She minces the leaves, combines all the ingredients and mixes them in the glass with a flick of her wrist.

While lamenting how she only utilizes her waterbending for dancing and drink-mixing, she stalks back to the prince's room.

She finds him still sprawled, occasionally groaning as sunlight pierces into his room. Affection starts flooding out of her in droves despite herself as she sits on the armrest of the divan and looks down upon him.

 _Spirits, he's beautiful._ She is tempted to run her fingers through his hair, to kiss him tenderly on his temples, to touch him and have him.

But she immediately shakes off the thought then shakes him awake.

"M-Kateeri," he sounds anxious through his jumbled words as his eyes blink awake, "I- ugh, my head." He delves his fingers into his thick black locks.

"Hangover?"

She tries to ignore the augmenting admiration of his skin taut across his palms or the succulence of his rich hair.

"I…I believe so."

Even when his words are slurred, she finds his voice pleasant.  _Oh spirits, she hates this._

She hands him the concoction she made, her passive expression disguising her growing lust. "This will help."

"Thank you," he takes a sip from the glass and sputters. "This is quite…bracing."

She scoffs. "I know it's disgusting. You can admit it." Then she grumbles, "You really need to stop being unnecessarily nice. That's what got you into trouble in the first place."

He sputters again and coughs through his embarrassment. She remains stoic.

He sets the glass aside and stares down sheepishly, away from her unwavering gaze. "About last night…I, well…"

"Do you even remember what happened?" she scoffs.

"I wasn't  _that_  drunk." His tone is lightly acerbic.

"Right," she retorts incredulously. "Then you could have carried yourself here. Guess that means I'm not-," she is about to stand up and leave but Iroh grabs her arm with a sudden intensity.

"I meant every word I said last night," his words are as firm as his gaze.

Kateeri stares at him, dumbfounded at this rare ferocity exuding from his voice and entity – this rare ferocity that sparks  _something_  she decided to quell just moments ago. But Agni knows she wants relinquish herself to the emotions building within her but she  **cannot** let him win.

"So do you  _want_  me?" she finally murmurs.

He is caught off guard and releases his grip, quickly descending into a pensive stare as he runs hands over his chin like brush strokes on rice paper.

"I wish I could say 'No.'  _Not_  in the sense I don't find you attractive…but in the sense I…" he sighs and tentatively looks up at her. "I don't want to take advantage of you. But yes, I do  _want_ you."

She crosses her arms over her chest and both remain in silence for a pause.

"Do you want to continue where we left off?"

He looks pained for a moment then resolved. "Yes."

_Of course he does. He is a man. Like all men._

_Still…_

"Are you willing to do this on my terms?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

She takes hold of his chin and forces his face to beset hers. Kateeri glares down at him, utilizing every ounce of self-control to keep her from consuming him (or crying) and forces patronization into her gaze.

Her desperation to win overpowers her desperation for him.

"This will be an affair. Nothing more. Nothing less. I do not love you. I will not love you. I just  _want_  you too. Can you can handle that?"

His eyes show surprise at first but then descend into complete and utter solemnity.

"Yes."

* * *

Finally, she has control over someone instead of the other way around.

But she knows that one day he could say "No" so she vows to have him addicted to her.

Still, she thinks about the people she has loved in her lifetime – her mother, her grandmother, then now Iroh, and wonders about what could have been if  _control_  had never been a factor.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: AAAAAAAAH! Ok...Well, yeah...I hope you guys liked it. I don't know if I'm doing this right.
> 
> Headcanon: Hideki is Hide and On Ji's son from the ATLA episode "The Headband" - I figure he would take after his mother in terms of aura and looks but his father in personality. Basically, he's a douche like Hide.


	6. Iroh

**IROH**

Iroh hated that he hadn't approached Kateeri sooner.

He should have acted when she still went by Mae Young.

Then maybe, just maybe, she would love him in the way that he wanted.

He didn't mind the way she desired him.

He didn't mind that she had her way with him.

He did hate that they did everything but make love.

* * *

Iroh considered himself a simple man - but perhaps a subdued one.

He loved his family – his mother, his grandfather, even the few fond memories of his late father. He grew up loved and cared for.

However, he inherited his mother's legacy of restraint.

So, naturally, he was a reticent and accommodating child who grew into a calm and accommodating young man. His inherent talents in academia and bending commanded respect but hardly reverence - his nature was almost too unassuming.

But that did not bother him.

It did bother others. Some of the councilmen that served his grandfather expressed their concern for a meek prince. A meek prince will grow into a meek Fire Lord and a meek Fire Lord will lead a meek Fire Nation; and a meek Fire Nation just cannot be. However, his years in service to the United Forces demonstrated his capacity for resolve and strength.

Even if the capacity for ambition in this prince seemed miniscule.

He met the holder of his namesake, his great uncle – the  _Dragon of the West_ , only once when he was quite young. But even at that age, he thoroughly understood that a standard was set before him.

So he applied himself.

He could rise to a challenge but that didn't mean he necessarily  _wanted_  to. He did what he believed to be proper for his person and title. He performed his duty; he acted righteously; conducted himself in the most appropriate manner.

_._

_Desire_ was foreign to him.

.

Perhaps it was for the best. He did not want to be someone who wallows in indulgence.

Still, he sensed that there was something considerable that his person lacked. Deep within him, far beyond his own consciousness, there was a modest thirst for the almost mystical experience of true and unadulterated desire.

* * *

So when he realized he desired Kateeri, he could not help but drown.

* * *

He never wanted anyone the way that he wanted her. Yes, he had the occasional girlfriend – an official's daughter one year, a female petty officer the next – but nothing felt  _right_.

Kisses felt sweet but awkward; touching was enjoyable but insignificant, saccharine words were genuine but sterile. He made a good partner but the number of break-ups he dealt with made known to him that being  _good_  was all he was.

But with Kateeri, he felt like he was more.

Initially, he considered himself to be her older brother and unconsciously camouflaged his desire for her as a desire to care for her. His mother treasured her and he figured he would too with a tousle of her hair and nights of advice and inside jokes.

She was comfortable to be around, three years his junior, and winsome when she wasn't snarky. But he found her amusing even when she was being sarcastic and sardonic – like how a brother would find his sister, he reasoned.

When he heard that Mae Young had left home in a refusal to an arranged marriage, he was flooded with relief. But again, he figured he was only relieved because any protective older brother wouldn't want his sister to be married off to someone who didn't deserve her.

But as time progressed, he noticed that the comfort he felt by being around her began to evolve and that he would  _ **miss**_  it.

He would spend months on a ship and frequently find his thoughts trailing towards her and what tea she would be drinking, what she was doing with his mother that day, what strange witticism she would tell his grandfather. But he didn't consider himself close enough to her to casually write letters on those subjects. In fact, he felt closed off from her.

There would be moments where he would acknowledge with startling sobriety how little he knew of her and how little she would tell him despite the years he has known her for. Nearly everything about her private life he heard secondhand from his mother. Despite the comfort, Kateeri manifested as an inaccessible mystery to him, an ethereal but powerful presence.

He disliked that. He wanted to laugh with her, to talk with her, to know what her favorite tea is, to understand her grandest values, to empathize with her greatest fears.

* * *

Then he saw her dance.

Suddenly, that comfort developed into that foreign and overwhelming sensation of desire.

She was undoubtedly attractive. He noticed that long ago that her body developed curves that girls from the Fire Nation simply lacked.

But singularly, when her body moved to music, his body would move too. Something would churn and he acknowledged, then, that it was lust.

But beyond just wanting to touch her, he wanted to hold her. His care for her was still equal to his desire. He still wanted to laugh and talk and  _know_  her; and he wanted her to laugh and talk and  _know_  him.

But any attempts at a conversation would be responded to with brevity on her part and he would watch, typically stunned, as she would turn on her heels and walk briskly away from him. Despite himself, he would observe her departing stride with guilty avidity. Her hips and hair would sway then his heartbeat followed. He would try to turn away, try to avoid her, try to evade this abrupt confrontation with temptation.

But despite his exploits as a naval officer, he could not help but drown.

* * *

He worried it might be infatuation or purely his libido.

He worried she hates him.

He worried about so many things.

But he knew – with astounding clarity – that with Kateeri, he felt like a man.

* * *

"Since when?" she asks one day through the open door to her lavatory as she rinses her hands of him.

Iroh sits over the edge of her bed, resting his elbows on his knees. He is collecting himself from the intensely erotic encounter just moments ago. He's still not used to the ferocity of whatever floods and geysers within him when she touches him.

He turns to her as he asks her to repeat. But the image of her washing away the product of his lust from her hands thrusts him into a minor frenzy, and he turns away.

_**Definitely**_  still not used to it.

"Since when have you  _desired_  me?" she repeats over the sounds of flowing water.

He runs his hand through his hair and abruptly sighs. "Probably the first time I saw you dance," he admits. "But you always interested me ever since you started working for my mother."

The faucet squeaks to a stop and he dares to spy at her over his shoulder. She leans against the doorframe with her arms crossed, an unreadable expression on her features.

"That was a considerable time ago. And I recall you being  _involved_  with others."

"When?" He is terribly confused. He was never  _involved_  with other women, at least not like he is involved with her.

"Your occasional girlfriends and I  _caught_  you that one time. In your quarters. It was a few years ago. The Fire Lily Festival."

He swears she blushes a bit.

But then  _he_  starts to blush furiously when he recalls the incident himself and discloses, "Ah, that…she was inebriated from the and, um, forced me down. And when you came in – I didn't know it was you – I took the opportunity to free myself."

A beat.

She bites her lip. " _I_ force you down."

"I don't force you  _off_ ," he responds quickly but sincerely, gazing at her but only for a brief moment.

He continues, "If you are worried about my previous  _history_. I haven't done anything remotely similar to what I'm doing with-." He feels as though all of his blood is filling every pore of his features. "I'm still a …virgin in other ways."

"Could have fooled me," she smirks, "But I guess I'm in the same boat."

A smile almost creeps on his face at the thought that she has only been  _involved_  with him.

"Even with your former fiancé?" he still asks.

She frowns and he instantly regrets bringing the issue up.

"He tried but I made sure it stopped before things got too far."

The idea of charbroiling the pervert cascades out of Iroh and into his charring fists.

"Still," she muses, sitting besides him – almost touching him. "I'm surprised how easily we seem to … _collaborate_ despite."

He buries his face in his still burning hands as heart begins to hammer excessively. "Yeah," he says slowly.

"Do you like it?"

"…yes,"

"Why?"

He again tries to mask his visible passion with a solitary palm firm over his mouth and a downward gaze. "I don't know."

Kateeri makes no attempt at a response and hoists herself off the bed and to her desk. He sighs.

He worries how easily she beckons him out of his persona of self-control while her typical passionate self descends into nonchalance during their time together. He bursts while she exudes calm.

He learns later that it is not the case.

"When will you be back?" she asks.

"Officially," he begins, ruminating on his upcoming schedule with a stroke of his chin. "Nearly half a year. But there'll be a joint exercise with the Fire Nation Navy at the end of this month."

"Right. Your grandfather mentioned that."

"I won't have that much time but I think I can manage to steal away for two nights."

"Alright. I'll see you then. Same time."

* * *

They began their "encounters" a week after his birthday and it all soon became a regular process.

They would establish a time and location based on his schedule – typically it would be during his visits and at her quarters. (No one ever bothered to come there during the hours between dusk and dawn.)

She would let him in.

Then  _she_  would push him down onto her bed.  _She_  would straddle him.  _She_  would kiss him.  _She_  would bind his hands.  _She_  would taunt him.

She controlled.

And he let her.

And, frankly, it exhilarated him.

Never before and he is certain that never again – with anyone else –would he  _feel_  the way he does when she grinds against him, when she mutters charged words into his ear.

He wants her and he delights in the fact that she wants him.

* * *

Her back is forced and taut against the wall of her bedroom and he is nearly collapsing into her as their breaths collide in synchrony.

"Am I making you feel  _good,_ Commander?" Kateeri growls.

She snakes her fingers around his member in a smooth and sensual dance. Iroh moans his response, instinctively grinding into her grip in tandem with her strokes.

Her touch is cool and sensuous while he is fire and impulse. Again, she is control and he is fervor.

"Do you want to  _touch_  me?"

He can only whimper out a soft and breathless, "Yes,"

She smirks as she guides his free hand over her smooth skin and underneath her garments and to her womanhood.

He caresses her there. He finally elicits sharp moans from her throat when his two fingers enter her eagerly. Easily too – she is wet and Iroh relishes the second of joy at the thought that he arouses her. His fingers move expertly within, feeling into her with fervent and yearning strokes.

They find a rhythm to their pulses, their grips, their bodies, their breaths, their groans.

"Kiss me," she demands breathlessly and he readily complies.

Kateeri forces his lips apart with a fervent tongue and he responds in kind, thirsty for her. But he suddenly keels away to keep his voice low when he nearly peaks.

So her lips travel down and she devours his neck with small bites that drive him psychotic.

She fondles the tip of his member. He slams his palm against the wall behind her in a desperate groan.

His reaction to her action – as it has always been.

But then he aggressively tears her skirt down and thrusts closer and closer to her, forcing her hand away from him. She is about to protest but he forces his lips back onto hers.

Iroh grabs her thighs and nearly hoists Kateeri off the ground; his kiss still firm and forceful, his tongue now passionately surveying against hers through her gasps for breath and for him.

There is only a thin garment that separates them but they grind into each other feverishly.

She arches back with a whimper as he arches in.

_Oh, Agni_ , he wants her. He wants to drown in her.

"Please, I -," he pleads her, begs her. He starts fingering at her panties as he rides against them.

"No, that's not allowed," she mutters as she tilts her head back. "I-I, ah,"

_There_. A sudden moment of affection.

He ravishes her beautiful bared neck, still desperately grinding against the thin cotton garment that inhibits anything further – as she grinds back.

He is prodigiously close. His hips thrust faster and her breaths hitch at his sudden pace.

Then with the overwhelming desire to have her envelop him, he grits his teeth and releases, crying her name.

He drowns in the ecstasy.

She follows with a sweet and anguished moan, grasping onto his shoulders in her euphoric vulnerability. Again, another moment.

They slowly descend to the ground in a breathless heap, sharing that moment that made them both relinquish something. He is still uncertain what. But as she lies gasping beneath his body, he feels like a dying god. He feels like he belongs to her and that she belongs to him.

He nips at her bare collarbone.

He kisses her neck, then her cheek, and when he gets to her lips, he moans, "I- I love you. "

She does not respond.

* * *

"I really do love you," he mutters after they clean themselves (and the wall) up, a lone hand extends to her. He caresses her face, trying to kiss her.

"Don't say things like that."

She nonchalantly pushes away from his attempt and doesn't even look at him.

He simmers. "Why not?"

Now, she looks at him. Severely.

"I told you. This is an affair. Nothing more," she glances away again.

He can tell when she's lying – but she does not realize that. She thinks she has him fooled but he now knows that, in those moments, there is a resounding fondness when she stares into his eyes that betray the words she forces from her lips.

He wants her to admit this.

"Then why do this and not actually make love to me?" he questions, almost interrogates, stepping towards her. She inches back.

Another little dagger to his soul.

"I don't love you, so why would I?" she snaps.

Another knife to his heart.

"And once feelings get involved, things get messy," she grumbles into her shoulder.

"I think they'll get less messy for us," he replies, reaching out and this time, he makes certain his embrace. She tries to escape but he envelops her with his arms and refuses to release her.

Slowly, she relents into his embrace and nestles her head into the crevice of his shoulder. He loves that she fits there like the perfect puzzle piece.

"That's what  _you_  think," she murmurs so softly and sadly that Iroh nearly jolts in surprise.

He wants to ask what she means by it but decides not to. Instead, he inhales her into him, pecks her cheek and whispers, "Can I stay the night?"

She subtly nods.

* * *

They lie on her bed together in a chaste embrace - until his duty will eventually call him away.

So he barely sleeps. He wants to be awake when he is close to her, aware of her, soak her in, during their rare and precious hours together. Iroh watches Kateeri intensely as she slowly drifts off, her dark beautiful blue eyes veiled for that night.

He doesn't mind that her head is heavy against his shoulder. In the fraught humidity of the summer air, her body is cool and her touch refreshing. His hands savor the chill as they cling to her hips and her shoulders. Inch by inch, he reels her closer into him. Then in her restless slumber, she places her leg over him and hugs his torso to her chest.

He internally celebrates at this small victory with a clenched fist and a muttered, "Yes!"

Again, he is a simple man. He dares to kiss her on the crown of her head, nuzzling into her hair. Sometimes he likes this more than whatever "encounters" they have.

He pauses.

He loves her.

Agni, he  _loves_  this woman.

_Ha_ , he laughs to himself. He loves her with so much of him that the mere thought of it makes him giddy.

And he knows (prays, hopes, wishes) she loves him too.

Kateeri is still asleep when he throws on his uniform and takes his time with the fasteners. Iroh always rises with the sun.

He stalks quietly to her latent form – clad only in her sarashi wraps and an old baggy white shirt of his. He finds the sight adorable. But is glad he had another shirt to spare to wear that morning. He likes being prepared.

She stirs ever so slightly.

He bends over as he fixes his collar and kisses her on the cheek.

"I love you," he whispers.

He noiselessly treads away from her, detouring to her desk before heading out the door. He extracts a small tin canister of Republic City's finest Jasmine tea out of his uniform pocket and places it gingerly on top of her paperwork.

* * *

Then he disappears into the dawn.

Iroh hates that he hadn't loved Kateeri sooner. But he wonders if loving her in the overwhelming way that he does might be his greatest weakness.

As he departs for his life on ships and on the seas, he wonders about what could have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: OMG. I have no idea what I'm doing. This is the first time I'm writing lemon but aaaah...I hope it's alright. Thanks for reading!


	7. At the Crossroads of Destiny

**At the Crossroads of Destiny**

Kateeri – with dirt smudges on her face and hair – bows before a rather strange and eclectic group of people. But besides being strange or eclectic, they are her saviors nonetheless.

"Thank you so much," she sighs wearily – still shaken from an incident with a gang of earthbender thugs just earlier, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up."

"Not at all," their leader replies in a flat but strangely charismatic voice. He helps her off the ground and returns her nearly stolen satchel. "Are you injured?"

"No, thanks to you," she smiles, quickly checking the contents of satchel then sighing in relief as she places the strap over her shoulder.

"I apologize since we couldn't stop them from taking your other belongings or your ostrich horse."

"No, I owe you my life. Besides, everything important is here," she smiles, patting her large satchel. "It was just clothes I didn't need and stale food. I think those robbers might find a better use for them."

"That is very forgiving of you, miss…?"

"Kateeri …of the Fire Nation."

"Strange name for a Fire Nation girl with waterbending abilities," one woman says but Kateeri swears that she hisses. Then she blushes in embarrassment at the realization that the group saw her feeble attempts to waterbend her attackers off.

"I have Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe blood but I lived in the Fire Nation practically my whole life. In fact, this trip was my first time in the Earth Kingdom in a decade. I'm obviously not a frequent traveler."

"Hmm, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be travelling alone either," another man murmurs as he draped his arm over Kateeri's shoulders.

She cringes slightly and finds his moustache a bit strange. "Ummmm…"

"Leave her be," their leader orders and when the mustached man complies, he turns back to Kateeri, "I apologize for my friend."

"No worries," Kateeri mutters out nervously, albeit grateful that the man removed his embrace.

"My name is Zaheer and these are my comrades – Ghazan, Ming-Hua and  _P'Li_ ," he says the last woman's name with so much subtext Kateeri immediately understands the extent of their relationship.

"It's a pleasure to meet you and thank you again. I would offer you something in gratitude but I don't have much now, considering,"

"May I ask where it is you are going?" Zaheer asks.

"Ba Sing Se and then to the Southern Water Tribe. I'm visiting family."

She leaves out a few key details like the main reason for her trip into Ba Sing Se or her mission to deliver Izumi's gift to Lord Zuko for his upcoming birthday while he is at the Southern Water Tribe for a secret White Lotus summit in a few weeks. She figures it would be smarter to leave that out considering that these people didn't seem like they were the most  _legal_  of sorts.

"This must be a sign that our encounter is meant to be because we four are making our way to the Southern Water Tribe as well," Zaheer pontificates.

"Really now?"

"Kateeri," he says at length, "My friend was right in that it would dangerous if you continue alone. So if you would not mind eventually accompanying us to Omashu, we would gladly escort you to Ba Sing Se and then to the Southern Water Tribe."

Kateeri's eyes a-light, "I would be stupid to refuse but I can already tell I would slow your group down. I feel as though I would be a dreadful inconvenience."

"Trust me, you won't be," Ghazan throws a flirty smile at her until Ming-Hua slaps him with a water whip.

Kateeri still cannot help but blush.

* * *

 A few days later, Kateeri made it to Ba Sing Se without a scratch thanks to Zaheer and his group but no thanks to their cooking (or lack thereof). She ended up proving to be beneficial in some regard due to her infallible seasoned komodo chicken stew. (But honestly, that dish and rice is all she can make well. But they don't need to know that).

When they arrived at the large metropolis, her documents easily (and suspiciously) allow of them to pass through to take a train into the Middle Ring.

Kateeri cringes when they reach the platform as she sees some Dai Li roughhouse supposed thieves -despite them being small boys – off their train.

"I always wish there could be something  _more_ I could do," she mutters under her breath as the train doors close.

"The more that laws and regulations are given prominence…" Zaheer begins.

"The more thieves and robbers there will be," Kateeri finishes while staring down into the overwhelming filth of the Outer Ring as they pass above it.

"Yes…how?"

"My late father had a library full of books on the Air Bender gurus of ages past. I would sneak in and steal the Teachings of Tao Lao-Zi to read at my bedside. His writings fascinated me the most."

"You had to steal your own father's books?"

"My grandmother forbade me.

"Sounds like a strict woman."

"A slave-driver is more like it. She thought harsh words and teachings were all a girl needed to grow into a suitable wife – not stilly books from other cultures. But she was wrong."

"So this is why you left," Zaheer adds knowingly.

"Yes, I used to travel the world with my mother ages ago but my grandmother forced me to stay with her and lead the life befit of a member of a noble family. But that wasn't the life for me. It shouldn't be the life for anyone. Everyone was so suppressed and misguided – I know that other people have had it worse and that I shouldn't complain but living with her just made me realize all the more how much things need to change." She knows that these are words that he resonates with based on the fervor in his eyes. She then asks, "How did you learn of Tao Lao-Zi?"

"I used to be an air acolyte."

"Oh, did you know Master Tenzin?"

"No, I never had the chance to meet the master since my studies remained solely at the Northern Air Temple,"

Kateeri feels her eyes narrow. She thought the Northern Air Temple hardly had new acolytes join. "What made you break your vows?"

"A calling, you could say," Zaheer mutters.

"I'm assuming this calling has to do with the mission you are on now?"

"Yes, it is." he looks wary of her. He made no mention of their mission.

"I won't pry if you don't want me too but part of me wonders if you let me accompany you simply because I had the papers to let you in – and my cooking," she comments, straining the humor of her tone with an endearing smile but that soon dissipates when he fails to respond.

Finally, Zaheer turns to her and states in a whisper, "We do have a mission and again, I believe our encounter is meant to be. But I appreciate your willingness to "not pry." We are still unsure how things will eventually come to pass."

"Is it dangerous?" she asks, making sure her voice and her eyes appear innocent and harmless.

"Quite,"

"I can tell that you are a wise man, Zaheer, but I don't want you four or others getting hurt."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I know that as wise as you are, your power and ambition match and maybe even overpower. I wouldn't want to cross you," she laughs, despite her heavy words.

"Then…would you want to join us?"

The train screeches to a stop and as others file out of the car, Zaheer takes hold her shoulder.

"Kateeri, you of all people have seen first hand what falsely held authority can do to its people and our mission will bring about the change that you so desire to witness."

She closes her eyes in contemplation then asks, "What can I do to help?"

* * *

Kateeri allotted a period of three days to spend in Ba Sing Se but Zaheer requests that she expedite her time to two. She readily complies and leaves their inn on account of visiting her aunt further into the city.

 _Not a total lie_ , she attests to herself as she rides a rickshaw that clambers up to a neighborhood along the wall to the Upper Ring.

Kateeri suddenly worries if Zaheer has her followed but the thoughts dissipate when she enters a public bathhouse.

There, in the steaming waters, Kateeri bathes herself while she befriends an older woman named  _Hope_  who happily prattled on about her baby grandchildren. As Kateeri waits for her laundered travel clothes to dry, she paints her lips and cheeks with a rose hue then dons her formal robes so that her body is draped in black with a thick burgundy sash taut around her thin waist.

With a smile, she gingerly places two turquoise gems on her ears and secretly admires the sight of her all dolled up. She would never admit it aloud but she loved prettifying herself, even when her grandmother forced her into stuffy hanfus. Those were the only days she felt  _beautiful_. Now armed with couture, Kateeri confidently strides into the Upper Ring and the Royal Palace while flashing her royal papers signed by the Fire Lord himself.

The new Grand Secretariat nearly prostrates before her then escorts her onto the Palace grounds. Massive and ostentatious, the emerald halls of the palace loom high above her head and she misses the corridors of crimson of the Fire Nation Palace.

Then…

"Kateeri?"

The voice alone warms her.

She knows it well and looks over her shoulder to witness her lover tread towards her, alighted by the peering sun and virescent lights.

Kateeri notes the little flicker of joy that dances across the gold eyes of the prince when he attempts to embrace her.

But he stops himself when he finally notices the Grand Secretariat and resorts to an awkward pat on her shoulder.

She chuckles to herself.  _Like a little puppy_ , she muses. "Commander Iroh? What brings you to Ba Sing Se?" she queries with a slight professional nod of her head.

"He's here to see  _me_ ," a voice squawks from behind them.

Kateeri strains to give a large smile as the new Earth Queen suddenly appears and slithers her hands around Iroh's left arm.

"Your majesty," Kateeri bows low to Hou-Ting, "My deepest condolences to you and your family with the recent passing of King Kuei."

The queen fails to respond and just waves Kateeri and her Secretariat away as she tightens her grip around Iroh's arm.

Kateeri just deadpans, fairly certain that the Earth Kingdom Queen has a good five years on Iroh and inwardly groans since he obviously belongs to _someone else_. She is about to eagerly leave until Iroh stops her with a reach that does not connect physically but Kateeri feels the tug in the air.

"Why are you here?" he asks.

"I have a message to deliver," she replies, trying not to sound too tense, "On behalf of your mother."

He knows she's lying. "Why didn't she send a wire or a messenger hawk?"

"Well, it pertains to-,"

"Who cares!" the Hou-Ting screeches, "Prince Iroh, accompany me to the throne room. There are more urgent and  _royal_ things to discuss."

With that, the garishly dressed queen pulls a hesitant Iroh with her down the halls. He looks over his shoulder to say goodbye with an endearing smile.

But Kateeri only gazes blankly back – a melancholic infinity in her eyes - before she follows the Secretariat in a different direction.

The further she walks away from Iroh, the more she experiences the evaporation of whatever warmth she feels with him around. By the time the Secretariat reaches a lone chamber, a chill is all that is left behind.

"This is the Royal Physician's office," the chronically nervous man gestures to an office door.

She bows her thanks and he responds in kind then scurries away in hyperventilated huffs. Kateeri wonders if he'll age faster than most as she timidly knocks on the door and enters the office.

"Excuse me?"

"Hello, there," an older woman with light green robes stands from a desk and approaches her. "You must be Kateeri. Lady Izumi told me of your arrival. Please," she calmly gestures to a couch to the side of the room, "Sit."

"Thank you,"

Upon closer inspection, Kateeri realizes that she is a waterbender with distinct cerulean eyes. She peers around the office, noting the tall shelves of books, the occasional Water Tribe artifact and the set of acupuncture needles.

The physician sits besides her on the green couch. "So she tells me there are some issues with your body that need to be checked?"

Kateeri just nods.

* * *

Illuminated by the glow of the large jade crystals, Kateeri ambles through Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se.

The Dai Li no longer employed the Crystal Catacombs as their prison and Kateeri asked the Grand Secretariat if she could explore them at her leisure before returning to the Middle Ring.

She needed time alone to think.

But apparently, a higher power decided otherwise.

To her astonishment, Iroh calls her name. Again, warmth fills her as he hastens to her side, his boots bounding across the loose dirt. He looks splendid in his uniform.

 _He looks splendid out of his uniform too_ , she snickers to herself.

He finally approaches her with a blush across his cheeks. "They said you were here. I- I thought I would join you."

Kateeri raises a brow but his company always pulls an eventual smile out of her. "I cannot believe you sometimes."

"What do you mean?" he rejoins.

"Nothing," she mutters, beginning to walk again. "But I don't think your girlfriend would appreciate you walking with another woman," she jokes.

"Well, you know she's not – my – you know."

"Hmmm. You would make an excellent match though," she quips in a singsong tone. "Think of the possibilities for International Relations!"

He frowns but relents with a humored grin.

"So why are you here? I didn't quite catch the full story before," Kateeri asks. "I doubt you came specifically for her Majesty, right?"

"No," he laughs. He matches her pace and locks his arms together behind him – his stride exudes regality. "Division One is escorting Councilman Cho to and from the Earth Kingdom so that she and her husband could be present for King Kuei's wake. I made a courtesy call on behalf of my grandfather and mother since they are occupied, as you know. We'll probably return to Republic City in a few days."

Iroh glances at her, expecting her to make a retort but she just stares at her feet as they drag across the earth.

She seems  _off_. Iroh accompanies only an echo down in the catacombs.

So, in an attempt to dispel his unease and hers, he asks for the real reason for her being in Ba Sing Se.

"Not for you, if that's what you're thinking," Kateeri retorts now.

"I …no," he reddens but then something catches his attention.

He suddenly swerves and glares at a bank of rock and crystals a few yards behind them. Kateeri searches too, baffled, unable to see anything out of the ordinary.

"I suggest you step out before I come after you," Iroh seethes with cold authority.

Kateeri is never used to seeing that  _Commander_ side of him when it appears.

"Whoa, just a friendly passer-byer," Ghazan croons, stepping out from behind the bank, his hands raised.

Irritation flares out of Kateeri. "You followed me?" she yells, accusatory.

"Calm down," Ghazan chuckles, "Besides I thought I mentioned that we can't have a pretty girl like you running around alone."

She scowls.

"Kateeri?" Iroh questions, paranoia permeates his tone.

"He's just one of the people I'm traveling with," she explains quickly, holding his tensing arm down in reassurance.

She's been telling a lot of half-truths lately.

"Really?" then something overtakes Iroh in a way that she has never seen before. "Because he looks like Ghazan, a United Forces deserter and fugitive."

Kateeri turns back and forth between the two men, shocked, angry – who knows. "I didn't…I didn't know,"

Ghazan raises his hands in fake defense, "And I didn't know that you were intimate with my old commanding officer, Kateeri,"

Kateeri makes no response, her mouth still agape at her circumstances. Her mind spins as she hastily thinks of what to do, still clutching Iroh's arm but he forces her grip off.

"I think this is the end of your travels," Iroh remarks coldly and readies himself into a stance.

"Try me,  _Pretty Boy_ ," Ghazan counters with a stance of his own.

Iroh makes the first blow, fisting an inferno towards Ghazan who swiftly counters with a shield of rock.

Kateeri hurriedly hoists her arms, drawing water from a nearby river channel – eyeing Ghazan and then Iroh as they face each other off.

Neither of them pays much attention to her and she uses the opportunity to send a large stream of water - towards Iroh.

He turns to face the oncoming wave and Kateeri catches his expression as it contorts into one of disbelief right before he collides with a nearby wall of crystals.

The prince groans as he crumples to the ground.

"I thought…" he mutters, clutching his side, about to rise.

"You thought wrong," is all Kateeri says back before she deals another blow. This time, he lays on the ground completely unconscious, broken.

* * *

 Zaheer meditates for a long moment before he scans the gagged and tied prince with discerning eyes. Ghazan had no trouble transporting Iroh to their inn by stuffing Iroh into a cloth sack. He also had little trouble convincing Zaheer and the women of Kateeri's fidelity to their cause since she continues to be valuable asset.

"His vessel is probably at the docks of the Serpent's Pass," Kateeri mutters after meeting Iroh's gaze then veering her line of sight away from his.

Iroh eyes them all with a determined and obstinate glare but when he glares at Kateeri, there is injury there too.

"We can take his ship to the Southern Water Tribe then. It'll make a better cover than whatever we were hoping to get from Omashu," P'Li notes with her arms crossed.

Kateeri adds, "It'll be fully stocked too. They're expecting it back at the Merchant's Pier within a few days anyways. Nothing will seem off if we pass by earlier and I can get us the clearance. From there, it should take at most two weeks."

"And as long as the crew is taken care of we have nothing to worry about other divisions finding out. It's smooth sailing from there on out," Ghazan says.

"But it's a huge United Forces naval ship. We can't steer that.  _I_ say we threaten the crew into navigating us there." Ming-Hua comments.

Zaheer shakes his head, "That's too risky but I'd rather not have to kill anyone if we decide otherwise."

"We won't have to. We'll just keep them in the prison hold since I know how to navigate the ship," Ghazan comments.

P'Li and Ming-Hua stare incredulously at him. "What," he shrugs at the shocked faces, "I've been places. I know things."

"Besides, it's an older and smaller model. It shouldn't be too hard to man by our team alone. Battleships require more hands on deck but it's just an escort mission, they wouldn't have pulled out the big guns."

"What do we do with the  _prince_ , then?" Ming-Hua asks, nodding towards Iroh.

"We should still take him as a hostage," Kateeri asserts, refusing to look at Iroh as he fumes at her through the gag. "He's the Fire Lord's only grandson. Princess Izumi won't be able to bear any more children at her age so he makes good leverage."

"Astute observations, Kateeri," Zaheer comments then rises from his lotus position. "You have proven yourself to be indispensible to us."

He bows to her.

"It is the least I can do." She suddenly descends to her knees, her head lowered before him and his allies. Kateeri begins to declaim, "Never have I felt so accepted and sure of what I must do. I  _want_  to follow you, Zaheer. You have given me the clearest vision of my future that I have ever had. Thank you."

Zaheer lays a firm hand on her shoulder. "I truly believe that our meeting you was intended by greater forces. We would not have gotten this far without you. It is no lie that we appreciate you."

"You'd be the first," she replies solemnly, not failing to notice the augmenting ache in Iroh's expression.

* * *

 The plan was set.

In a few hours, under the cover of the eventide, Kateeri finds herself on the deck of a large United Forces vessel that rocked to and fro as Ghazan pulled it out of the harbor and away from the destroyed docks of Full Moon Bay.

Kateeri makes a note of never upsetting P'Li…ever.

For days to come, Kateeri spends hours upon hours in the ship's miniscule galley, preparing meager meals for herself, Zaheer's group and the prisoners in the cells deep within the vessel.

She grumbles at the thought that her grandmother's bridal lessons in cooking paid off in some regard. Still, somewhat disgusted at being in the kitchen for so long, Kateeri makes an effort in spending long moments on deck.

Deep in thought, she peers out onto a seemingly endless sea as the sky flutters from blue to red then to the darkest indigo.

One afternoon, she spots the formations of the Southern Air Nation Islands in the distance and clutches her thick cloak closer to her as it flutters about her as the warm winds howl a chillier tune as they travel further south.

"I must thank you again, Kateeri."

Kateeri swerves to Zaheer's sudden presence behind her.

"Zaheer!"

"I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, not at all. I was just- thinking,"

"About?"

She grips the edges of her cloak. "I betrayed a lot of people. I left my entire life behind to follow you. Of course, I do not doubt my sacrifice but I want to be sure that it's not all for naught," she turns to him. "It's been plaguing my mind, Zaheer – the thought that I can never go back."

"You won't have to. Because of your sacrifice, a new age will be born – ten thousand years of righteous chaos – and the Red Lotus will help the Avatar grow into someone who will bring about that new age. Change is upon us, Kateeri."

"The Avatar," she murmurs. She looks back to the heavens, thinking of the little Water Tribe girl that has laid claim to a unique life right at her birth.

"You'll need someone to cook," she quips albeit pragmatically. "None of you can cook to save your lives."

Zaheer somberly huffs. " _That_ is true. There are others involved in the Red Lotus but I doubt anyone knows the proper diet for a growing child. Apparently, we'll have to rely on you further into the future."

Kateeri detects the slightest ounce of reciprocated humor in his tone. "It'll be my honor," she brings her hands together and bows to him as a student would to her master.

* * *

 After they pass Whale Tail Island later that evening, Kateeri clambers through the metal halls and down thin stairwells to where Ming-Hua stands guard in front of the prison hold.

"You already brought them dinner. What are you doing here?" Ming-Hua hisses.

"Can I talk to him?"

Ming-Hua just tosses her a look. "Want a few moments with your old boy toy? Sorry," she seethes, "Maybe next time. I have him iced and I don't want to give him a chance to firebend out."

"I can at least maintain the ice…besides, you've been standing guard for who knows how long. Take a break."

Ming-Hua just glares dubiously back.

"There are things we need to talk about  _in private_."

The skilled waterbender rolls her eyes and steps aside to allow Kateeri to revolve the door open and tread inside into the prince's personal prison.

"What are you doing here?" Iroh asks, his eyes enflamed.

He breathes out an angry and fiery breath as he shivers. They got rid of his gags as soon as they boarded but Ming-Hua covered the walls of the prison hold and all of his limbs with thick inescapable ice, making him kneel perpetually in his own ship.

"What? Didn't you want to see me?" she quips, quietly but almost haughtily.

"No."

"I warned you, didn't I? To protect your soft, malleable heart," she seethes, "It was your fault for trusting in me blindly."

" _Everyone_ trusted you, Kateeri, and you turned around and betrayed all of us!" His voice breaks. "I can't believe I-,"

"What?" she laughs. "Can't believe you loved me?" She towers above, exuding a cruel and sadistic quality about her.

"Yes." He repeats softly and slowly, "I can't believe I loved you."

"Whoa, I'm leaving," Ming-Hua jeers and the sound of her footsteps slowly fade out into oblivion.

Kateeri smolders until she hears the door to the deck slam shut then releases him from the shackles of ice that bind him with a wave of her hand. There is still a set of irons clasped around his wrists.

"I'm going to send a wire out. Who's closest to us?" she asks, kneeling down to bend water to freeze over the weakest part of the shackles.

Iroh is in shock, alternating between looking at her and then at the pile of water that was once his prison.

He can tell when she is lying. Right?

"Iroh," Kateeri insistently mutters, "Is there anyone nearby that can intercept us on our way to the Southern Water Tribe?"

"Umm…The Second Division might be on stand-by at Hanja Island for the Summit."

"Perfect. Then we're about to pass them. Alright, take over." She stands up and takes a few steps back.

Fire explodes from his hands, shattering the frozen iron cuffs. He rubs his tender wrists as he stands and asks, "Then why?"

She huffs and places a hand on her hips. "I needed to figure out what they were going to do. I knew they were up to something as soon as I met them but they didn't trust me enough before to tell me anything. Initially, I thought they were going to attack the Summit. But now that I know that they're trying to kidnap the new Avatar and indoctrinate her, we can better warn Chief Sokka about the threat Zaheer poses."

"So what happened at Ba Sing Se was just…?" he waits as she cautiously opens the metal door to the prison hold to peer outside.

"A hoax…mostly. I do agree with some of their ideologies but not to the point where I would blindly follow them. I'm not  _that_  desperate for acceptance."

He can't suppress the smile that steals across his face. "I'm glad."

She looks up at him, almost wistfully, and then lifts herself on her toes to kiss him. "You really shouldn't love me as much as you should," she whispers.

Still, he kisses her back and confirms to himself that there was something  _off_  about her – as if a haze had wrapped itself around her person. Perhaps that was why he didn't realize that she had lied for him, he muses. But he also knows that perhaps he loves her more than she loves him – and the possibility that she could betray him – and nearly did – terrifies him. So he kisses her and kisses her.

He knows she loves him. But again, something is different, off.  _Why else would she say something like that?_

Eventually, she stops him before things escalate. "We don't have much time. I don't know when Ming-Hua is coming back but Zaheer and P'Li are… _busy_  so I need to get to the vessel's telegraph now."

"I'm going with you," he whispers.

"No, you have to get your crew out of their cell and onto the lifeboats."

"I'm going with you," he repeats insistently, gently holding her face and gazing into her dark blue eyes then grabbing her hand and guiding her out of the prison hold.

She tries to protest but he is already quietly edging down the hallway and silently making his way up a flight of stairs.

When they sneak their way to the cabin, Kateeri peeks into the porthole and sees Ghazan's back at the helm.

"Shit, Ghazan is still in there," her voice is barely above a whisper.

"We can take him," Iroh susurrates back.

"No."

He frowns.

"Stop that," she whispers adamantly as she whacks him. "You're weakened right now. It'll cause less of a ruckus if I distract him first then you can free your crew."

"Fine," he relents. "So how are you going to distract him?"

She looks away askance. "You won't like it…"

"What do you mean?"

Ignoring him, she stands then beckons Iroh to creep out of Ghazan's possible line of sight as she creaks the door to the cabin open.

"Hey," she steps through then closes the door just slightly behind her.

The lavabender turns and smirks at her arrival. "Hey,"

"Hey,"

"I feel like I haven't seen you much," Ghazan muses aloud.

"Well, I didn't want to bother you. But we'll be arriving soon and well, I …got  _bored_."

He grins in response. "I never got to say 'thank you' back in Ba Sing Se, did I? You saved my ass back there, gorgeous,"

"Don't thank me just yet," she scoffs and inches her way to him. Then she coyly tucks a tress of her hair behind her ear. "You really think I'm pretty?" she queries, her voice low and sultry.

"I thought I made that fairly clear," he responds, his voice mimicking the low and sultry tone, then leaning an arm over the wheel.

"But I figured you and Ming-Hua were…"

"Ming-Hua? No…there might have been something but," he shrugs, "You know. What about you and Prince Pretty Boy? He seemed pretty upset to see you with us."

"Guess I took a toll on him. But he's honestly just a spoiled little brat I would have my way with every once in a while," Kateeri easily lies, trailing her dainty fingers through her hair, then down over the wheel and over his large arms, and then his hands.

She can feel his heat rising as he follows her touch. He growls, "You must be quite a woman if a Fire Nation prince is someone you just have your way with."

She eyes a loose steel rod reclining on the machinery beside the helm.

"You want to find out?" she murmurs breathily.

Ghazan raises a brow and stares right at her lips, which she licks mischievously.

"You asking for trouble?" he retorts.

"Mm-hmm." She sidles her way in between him and the helm which he accommodates to by stepping back an inch.

Then he grabs her waist, pulls her in, and slowly reaches down to grab her ass. She has one arm pushing him back playfully and the other arm makes it way down behind her to take hold of the steel rod.

But before Ghazan tilts in to do more, Iroh swings the door open, readying a stance to strike.

Ghazan whirls around, "What the-?!"

"Told you not to thank me just yet," Kateeri quickly remarks before she unceremoniously kicks him down and hurls the rod down at the nape of his neck.

He tumbles to the metal floor with an "ugh."

Iroh is visibly furious as he stalks into the cabin. "I-You… _This,"_  he points to Ghazan's limb body, "…was unnecessary."

"Why aren't you freeing your crew?!" she seethes at him through her teeth at a heightened whisper.

"Why are you throwing yourself onto mustached men? I thought you hate mustaches," he whispers angrily back.

"I had this under control," she aggressively points at Ghazan. "And you are being ridiculous. Go free your crew  ** _now_**!" She stalks to the telegraph next to the radio while Iroh stalks out of the cabin.

She configures the signal and starts relaying. "Halt 1D Ship to SWT. Stop," she mumbles aloud as she makes each click deliberately. She just learned how to send wires a few months ago. "Taken by terrorists. Stop. Send help. Stop. Iroh and crew-,"

"You little bitch," Ming-Hua's hissing voice suddenly sounds from behind her.

Thankfully, Kateeri reacted fast enough to dive towards Ming-Hua and tackle her into the thick iron walls of the cabin with a "CLANG."

"Are you alright?" Kateeri hears Iroh shout at her as she tries to force herself off of Ming-Hua's body.

"Yeah." Both waterbenders groan as Iroh pulls Kateeri up and out of the cabin.

"You're insane."

"Shut up."

"We need to get my crew and then get you off the ship while the waters are still warm. There's no way we can take on all four of them. Most of my crew members are non-benders." Iroh declares hurriedly as he drags Kateeri through the thin halls of his ship. "There are lifeboats attached on the port side of the hull."

They clang and bound down flights of stairs and burst into the prison hold, where about fifteen men and women jolt awake.

"Everybody up. We're escaping," Iroh shouts.

Kateeri and Iroh quickly work to explode their chains off and the crewmembers promptly file up and out of the hold.

"To the lifeboats. Hurry," Kateeri orders as she runs with them. Iroh makes certain that he is the last one out on the deck.

They rush to two attached lifeboats; ten immediately clamber in one and lower themselves down. The rest jump into the second but as Kateeri is about to step in, she suddenly hears the distinct vibrations of P'Li's coming powers. She feels her body go numb as she careens back onto the deck.

The lifeboat now dangles aslant on a single rope and a petty officer screams as he plummets into the water, grasping and flailing at the air. With a swift kick and a blade of fire, Iroh immediately cuts the lone rope and once the boat land unceremoniously onto the clapping waves, he orders the waterbenders to propel the boats west after they haul the fallen officer back to safety.

Iroh swerves to help Kateeri but Zaheer suddenly appears from behind and grabs hold of her arms and head. In that quick but endless moment, Kateeri knows three things:

1) that she should have studied waterbending as a martial art rather than for dance,

2) that Zaheer can easily snap her neck, and

3) that Iroh would never let that happen.

Sure enough, before Zaheer could even provide an ultimatum to Iroh with her life in exchange, the Fire Prince ignites with cold, ruthless lightning. Kateeri watches – slowly – as the bolts travel in a directive past her head. She feels the force her captor pushes against her as he throws her down to propel him out of range.

The lightening assaults an empty stretch and Kateeri lays only a miniscule distance away from Zaheer. She tries to scramble up but the mercenary rushes towards her and artfully kicks her back to the ground.

Kateeri blacks out for a second until she hears the sound of fierce water crashing down in waves.

"Hurt my daughter again and I swear I will mutilate you."

"Mother!?"

The sight of Kya standing protectively above her astonishes Kateeri into utter relief.

"Honey, you better be glad I was tagging along with Bumi," Kya jests as she wards off a recovered Ming-Hua along with two other benders garbed in United Forces uniforms.

Someone behind picks her gently off the ground as several battles rage and Kateeri looks up to see a commanding officer grinning through his beard.

"Hi! I'm Bumi, your uncle. Wish we could have met in different circumstances but you know,  _life_ ," the man warbles.

Kateeri loves him instantly.

But the fear for everyone's safety overwhelms her. Her uncle, not so much.

"Commander Iroh~!," he half shouts and half sings at the prince, "I've brought a rescue team!"

"I can see that. Thank you, Commander Bum _i_?" Iroh shouts back as he dodges an attack by P'Li and flares another blow at Zaheer. Ghazan makes an assault attempt towards Bumi and Kateeri but an enraged Kya cuts it off.

"We rendezvoused with your crew and are guiding them to my vessel."

"Excellent. We need to retreat and warn the Southern Water tribe!" Iroh asserts, his voice almost muted by the explosions of water, flame, and magma.

Bumi then ripostes, "Well, I've got my long-lost niece and our patrol craft is off the port bow."

"Right. I'll hold them off," Iroh shouts.

"No, you can't take them all!" Kateeri tries to continue her protests but is cut off by her uncle grabbing her and bellowing, "Maneuver Cut and Run!"

Bumi jumps off the side of the ship with Kateeri in his arm. Kya quickly follow and ices a slide down beneath them to a smaller boat anchored to the vessel with similar frost. The other members of the rescue team trail behind and everyone lands with a thud. Kya immediately dispels their ice anchor and Bumi releases a raving Kateeri into the hull while he rushes to the motor to start it.

"No!" Kateeri tries to stand but the boat suddenly lurches forward and she nearly falls on top of her mother. She sees Iroh at the edge of his dilapidated vessel, his back illuminated by the fiery duels before him.

Then she hears the consecutive pulsations of P'Li's attack and watches the entire vessel explode.

She cannot see Iroh.

She stares in absolute terror as monstrous flames ravage the craft. The fear of emptiness thoroughly empties her.

And she is a void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Obviously, a LOT of references to the old ATLA series. I spent a lot of time on this one even though I consider it to be a filler chapter since it's pretty melodramatic :P
> 
> Oh wells, I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I enjoy Korrasami being canon :D


	8. Shards of Silence

** Shards of Silence **

She cannot see him.

She tries screaming his name but nothing comes out. She scrambles towards the edge of the boat and attempts to dive into the debris-littered waters until Kya pulls her back.

"Kateeri, stop!" her mother yells.

"I need to save him!"

"You're still a novice bender.  _I'm_ going." Without missing a beat, Kya dives in, using her waterbending to thrust her towards the aftermath of the explosion. Bumi slows the boat when they reach the life raft full of Iroh's crewmembers and he places a comforting hand on Kateeri's shoulder.

Everything is painfully slow as Kateeri watches, furious at her own uselessness and incompetence, dread in every other pore of her body. She waits in anguish for some sign of her mother and Iroh.

Seconds seem like hours.

Minutes seem like eons.

Finally, she sees their figures bob up in waves to the distance. Kateeri collapses on the floor of the boat in relief as her mother rushes both of them closer to their boat.

"They escaped on a scout ship!" Kya yells over the deafening sounds of flames as Kateeri and a waterbender petty officer help bend her mother and Iroh's limp and bloodied body out of the water and onto their small craft. Kateeri immediately holds one of his lethargic hands to her chest.

Bumi directs their boat back to his ship at full force as Kya begins to heal the lifeless Iroh. One of the other rescue team members firebends a small flame to provide a light for Kya to work off of.

"I'm going to kill him," Kateeri mutters, still clutching his hand to her.

"You might not need to…" Kya looks up at her daughter. "I need you to help me."

Kateeri feels terrified even at the prospect of letting his hand go and knows she probably looks it. "I can't. You only taught me the basics. I can't even be considered a decent bender. Couldn't he-"

The male waterbending United Forces officer shakes his head frantically, "I never learned."

"Kateeri, we're losing him," Kya says urgently. "I need you to stimulate the blood flow from his body while I concentrate on his heart."

"But I-,"

"Kateeri!"

She relents, releasing his hands and quickly calling seawater to her palms and focusing the moisture to eventually hum and glow after a few desperate moments and prayers.

* * *

The following hours blur faces, words, and moments in Kateeri's consciousness. But one thing is for certain: she never left Iroh's side. One hand constantly hovered over his faint heartbeat; the other firmly grasping his calloused fingers.

Her constant presence wasn't exactly protocol on board a United Forces vessel but Bumi permitted it by claiming she was his personal physician. But the crews of Division 1 and 2 caught on fairly quickly and snickered and gossiped behind the closed doors of the ship's hospice where Kateeri and the comatose Iroh stayed until they reached the Southern Water Tribe.

Kateeri scarcely has time to take in the sight of her foreign homeland as she and her mother rush Iroh to a healing hut where she finally meets her grandmother under un-ideal circumstances. By the time Katara finishes restoring Iroh's chi to a balanced state, his heart rate is recognizable and steady but he is still deep in sleep.

"He'll wake up soon," the elderly Katara murmurs as they lay him down in an available bed.

"I'm staying by him until then," Kateeri insists. "Thank you, Ka-grandmother."

"Kateeri, you are my beloved granddaughter," the old woman states, taking Kateeri's hand. "Call me Gran-Gran," she breaks out into a large smile devoid of the anxiety that plagues her granddaughter.

So Kateeri grins back. But something in her breaks and she abruptly hugs Katara, sobbing into her shoulders.

"There, there," Katara places her gloved hand lovingly on her back. "You have been through a lot lately. It's alright. I've got you."

* * *

Katara prepares warmer clothes that match the dark indigo of Kateeri's eyes and a chair covered in furs and pelts besides Iroh's cot.

"I'll come by with breakfast in a few hours."

"Thanks…Gran-Gran,"

Katara leaves the hut into the crisp morning with a warm smile on her face.

The day lingers on as Kateeri spends her time as a period of internal brooding – staring at Iroh, mulling in regret and penitence, wondering if she deserves absolution or if she even deserves him.

Her mind and her anxieties float about and torment her as she waits for Iroh to wake. She can feel her soul stretching.

Eventually, she falls asleep in her chair.

* * *

A sudden weight on her legs jolts her from her nap. Kateeri feels her eyes widen as a little girl with a chubby belly and vibrant blue eyes stares up at her from her lap.

"You're pretty!"

"…"

The girl just continues to stare right back at her and Kateeri feels her eyeballs bulge out of their sockets.

"Thank you?"

"I'm the Avatar!" the child shouts apropos of nothing, jumping off of her lap and sprinting a few steps away to show off some spurts of water and firebending in the middle of the hut. "See!?" she exclaims and throws her little arms into the air.

"Wow, you're an amazing Avatar," Kateeri laughs, kneeling before her. "Your name is Korra, right?"

The little girl gasps dramatically. "How'dya know?"

Kateeri pats Korra on the head, a warm smile on her face. "Fire Lord Zuko and my grandmother told me."

" _I_  know Fire Lord Zuko but who's your Gran-Gran?"

"Guess," Kateeri retorts mischievously, fiddling with the girl's nose. Little Korra descends into alarm.

"I – I don't KNOW?!" she laments, kneeling into the ground in hyperbolic distress.

Kateeri chuckles. She is enthralled by this toddler.

"Well, her name starts with 'Ka' and ends with 'Tara.'"

"Ka…Ka…oh! Katara! I know Katara. I came here to play – I mean –  _train_  with her,"

"Well, my Gran-Gran had to go do some things so she isn't here anymore," Kateeri notes when she sits back into her chair. "But you can play – I mean –  _train_  with me," she beams as she leans against her knees so that she maintains eye contact with the tiny Avatar.

"Ok!" Korra immediately jumps and eagerly scrambles up and plops onto Kateeri's lap. "Who's that?" she asks, pointing at Iroh.

"He's a patient."

"What's a pay-shient?"

"Someone who got hurt,"

"Whoa. He's handthome."

"Isn't he?"

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"How do you know what that is?"

"Rona told me! She says that boyfriends and girlfriends kiss and hold hands and do other icky stuff,"

"Is Rona your friend?"

"Yeah! But she's not an Avatar. Only me,"

"Hmmm, I see."

Kateeri finds herself snuggling into Korra's hair as she plays with it.

"Hey, that tickles!" Korra shouts which prompts Kateeri into doing more. Soon, the hut is filled with laughter, cries and the distinct sound of raspberry kisses on little chubby cheeks.

* * *

Then eons pass again as the day passes and the moon shines her countenance upon the blues of the world.

* * *

In the dark of midnight, Iroh wakes in a slow and groggy fashion – first his eyes slowly blink open, then he pushes himself up. There is a thick pelt blanket over him and bandages around his torso that he fingers gingerly.

Despite it being dark, Iroh easily deduced he was in a healing hut in the Southern Water Tribe. Then he sees a figure curled up in furs in a chair besides his bed.

"Kateeri?" he smiles then is worried that he maybe sounded a bit  _too_  happy to see her.

She stirs awake then jumps out of her chair as soon as she realizes he's awake. She instantly grapples his face towards her and kisses him ferociously. Repeatedly and angrily punching him as she delivers kiss after eager kiss.

He ignores the wincing soreness enveloping his chest as he returns her fervor and is almost tempted to slip his hands underneath her thick coat.

"I'm going to kill you," she mutters in between breaths and buss and delivers one more soft punch to his shoulder.

He chuckles then grimaces; he places a hand over his stomach where a sharp and patent pain just erupted. "Ugh,"

Kateeri immediately removes his bandages then wets her hands in a nearby pool until the water starts to hum around them. She genteelly lifts and covers his wound with cool, curative water.

"You're a healer now?" he asks, still cringing as she works at him.

"My mother taught me the basics a while back during one of her visits. Then she and Katara showed me a few more advanced techniques while you were out."

"How long?"

"Three days. It took all of us to heal your stupid ass."

"But you're safe so I must have done something right," he smiles as she removes her healing touch and returns the water to the pool.

"Shut up," she gives him one long and final kiss. "Stupid," she grumbles while re-wrapping the thin bandages around a distinct scar over his skin.

"So for the three days I was unconscious, you were here, right?"

"No," she lies, looking away as she settles into the bed besides him.

She knows that he knows that she loves him.

This time he kisses her, eventually nuzzling into her collar as he leans onto her frame. "What time is it?"

She looks out the window. "I'm not sure. I don't know how long I was out. There aren't a whole lot of lights on. Maybe a little after midnight?"

"Hmmm," is all he says as he breathes her in. She smells of home, peach blossoms and sage. He feels her fiddle with his hair.

"Is the Avatar safe?"

"Yes, she's fine. The White Lotus is already preparing special prisons for Zaheer and his team."

"Good." He's tempted to ask where Ghazan is placed so he can pay a visit later. But he says nothing.

"This was my fault," she says in a hushed whisper. "I'm sorry."

"No, it wasn't," he wraps his arms around her.

"Don't be nice. You know it's true."

"Fine," he hoists himself off of her so that he towers over. "Then take responsibility."

She is too stunned to respond; almost scandalized at the fact that he said something like that. Iroh is proud of the moments he can astonish her into silence.

He takes the opportunity to place his arm around her and draw her to him. She avoids his wounds as he does.

"Considering my injuries, I could probably request a few days off so…" he trails off.

"I  **cannot**  believe you're thinking about sex at a time like this."

"No!" he deadpans then blushes, "I'm just thinking it would be a good time to …get…  _married_."

She doesn't move.

"I don't know when I can have an extended period of time off like this next. We can do a civil ceremony here since everyone is already here, except for my mother. And she can easily come by or we can have a second ceremony with the hanboks and everything that mother can oversee back home…"

She reaches up and tucks a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. The haze returns.

He knows that means "No."

"I don't understand."

"Iroh, don't get me wrong. I am honored but I can't. Things for me – at least right now," she sighs, "It's complicated."

"You've always been complicated." He caresses her hair.

"And you don't want a complicated wife."

"I  _want_  to marry you, Kateeri."

"Why?"

"I love you," he insists.

"But I  _ruined_ you."

The response stuns him into silence.

She forces a smile. "'Kateeri' is supposed to mean pure but look at me," she tries to say as levelheadedly as possible. "I'm so messed up I can't even love you like a normal person." Now she forces a laugh. "…so what kind of wife would I make you?"

The blankets rustle as he turns slightly to face her and takes a firm hold of her shoulders.

"You will be  _my_ wife," he replies. "You're the only one who makes me feel the way I do, even if we didn't do what we do. Simply being with you makes me so happy I turn stupid. Is it wrong to want that? For the rest of my life? You're strong and stubborn and you challenge me to be a better man than I ever was – in and out of the bedroom," he ends jokingly, hoping that it'll at least make her smile.

But she shakes her head.

"Iroh, I'm barren."

Iroh almost lets go her then – almost. Explanations and realizations crush and overpower every facet of his consciousness.

He cannot see her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I realize how incredibly cliche it is to have Kateeri barren but sigh...it works in my head. Thanks so much for sticking around despite the cliches!


	9. Smoke in the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Look at all this godforsaken smut. Look at it. Don't look at it. Close the window, shut down your device and run away while you still can.

Iroh glares down at the pelts, grappling with the throbbing and shipwrecking emptiness inside his head.

So Kateeri goes on and mutters, "You are going to be Fire Lord one day. You cannot have a barren wife."

Without looking away from a certain whorl in the fur, he insists, "We'll find a way. We'll visit doctors-."

"I have. There is nothing anyone can do."

Now he looks at her, his desperate earnestness exuding with every word. "We will find a way," he articulates. "We'll adopt. We'll appoint someone. It's been done before,"

"Iroh,"

"We'll figure something out. We-,"

"Iroh, please. You're getting past marriageable age. You need to find someone more appropriate."

"Why would I if I already have you?"

"You have to think about your future."

"I don't want to unless you're in it."

"I'm not yours, Iroh. I warned you not to get too attached," she is running out of reasons.

"Well, it happened. I got attached. I love you. I care about you. I want to grow old with you. I want to wake up in the mornings and see you there next to me."

"You're being naïve," Kateeri murmurs.

"You're being dishonest! Why do you always lie to me?" He grapples her shoulders and grips them with leaking fury. "Why are you trying to hide the fact that this makes you just as heartbroken as me? Why can't you just admit you love me? Why-!"

He suddenly pushes her down and pins her wrists under his rough hands. He starts tearing at her clothes in a frenzy, undoing the ties of her garments.

Her mind hums and shatters with fear until she finally manages to whimper, "Iroh, stop!"

He doesn't. He is nearly ripping the clothes off her body.

Pain and dread instill within her and compel her to either sob or screech. So she does both, "Iroh, please!"

He stops.

It seems that even the Spirits stop.

She suddenly feels something on her cheek.

Looking up, she realizes that he is crying too, like in the romances of old. Iroh exhales in tremors then slowly collapses onto the bed besides her, muttering, "I'm so sorry," as he does.

She brings her knees to her then under her, kneeling on the bed besides him.

"Iroh," Kateeri mutters, reaching out to him.

"No." He pushes her hand away, shame in his eyes.

"I forgive you."

"That was repulsive. I should have never-,"

Kateeri can sense the extent of his horror in the air, hearing his soft and tacit tears. She sighs silently to herself. What an ardent and melodramatic man she decided to love.

So Kateeri sidles close as his head digs into his hands and into the sheets. She crouches, lays besides him, places her hand upon his clenched one and peers at him with gracious eyes.

"I forgive you," Kateeri repeats earnestly then leans in to burrow into his bedraggled hair. "We'll get over each other. We'll move on. And even though we won't end up together." He finally looks up at her and she places her hand on his face. "It'll never change the fact that you changed my life and that in this moment, I love you."

He can tell if she's lying.

But she isn't.

It's the first time she has ever said those three words to him. Her eyes are brimming with the fondness she often tries to hide.

She takes his other cheek, stroking the scraggly skin that might develop into a beard if he does not shave soon.

He surveys her distrait gaze and notes how tired her eyes are and the skin that darkens and sags beneath her typically bright and aggressive blue eyes.

Iroh is surprised when she leans in to kiss him but he cannot deny how much his lips relish the taste of hers.

"So do it," she whispers breathily.

"What?" He watches her, staggering, as the leftover layers of clothes start to slip off her shoulders.

"Fuck me," she exposes all of her to him with one final tug and her sarashi wraps fall at her knees.

He stares – at her breasts, her everything – then glowers at her. "What are you doing?"

"Fuck me, Iroh," she whispers as she crawls on his lap.

"No," he is firm, pushes away and drapes her coat around her again, avoiding looking at her.

"You were about to five seconds ago. What's changed?!" She flares with anger, hurt, mortification, frustration – but also, that fondness he has been able to detect so keenly.

His hands are still tugging at her coat so he clenches and pulls her to him. "I shouldn't have pushed you down and I'm never doing that again. And if this is going to be goodbye … I can't. Not to you. Not like this."

"It has to be goodbye…I don't deserve your affection. And you can't marry someone like me, Iroh. You need to find someone who will love you in a way you deserve."

"And what is that?" he half-laughs, still not releasing her from his tentative but firm embrace.

"With reciprocity, with sweet words, with children – I can't give any of `that to you."

He exhales his tension out as a grumbling sigh and roughly burrows into her hair, surprising her. He cups her face and chastely kisses her waiting lips.

"You've given me a lot more." He pecks her forehead and helps her clasp her coat around her. Then they descend back into the bed and he holds her tightly to his chest. He cares not for the dull pain around his torso.

"You're a hopeless romantic."

"Perhaps, but only for you," he smirks.

"Ugh," she fakes vomiting.

"And she's back," he chuckles.

He catches a glimpse of her smile as she snuggles into his shoulder, her hands trailing in small circles about his chest.

They lie there in their affection, in the furs, in that momentary happiness.

They savor the warmth of the others' bodies, their skin, the emanating heat in the aching cold air.

Finally, Iroh dares to say, "You know, I'm going to marry you,"

"I would love to see you try," she glares wryly at him but deftly folds back into the crevice of his shoulder.

He chuckles again and rests his head upon hers.

* * *

 

Kateeri wakes realizing that she and her lover had both fallen asleep – their limbs and legs in a tangle beneath the furs. His arms still bolster her to him so she peers about with whatever room she has.

Daylight only slightly dared to disrupt their night but there are still hours before sun rises fully, Kateeri concludes.

Her eyes adapt to the nebulous dark and she gazes at Iroh without reservation. He breathes heavily in his sleep and most nights the noise annoys her. But tonight, all she can feel is absolute delight. She gazes at his countenance and his body like a sculptor upon her work – the smooth of his skin, the clefts of his nape and shoulders, the firmness of his torso.

"Shit," she whispers, acknowledging her decision to abandon self-control. She shuffles slightly, adjusting her body and form so that she can lift her arms to brush her thumb across his beautiful taut lips, feeling his sleepy breath upon her fingertip.

She kisses him.

He still slumbers away.

So adventurous does Kateeri become.

She pecks him once, slowly, then in quick, fervent and repeated succession, slightly biting his lower lip every so often, feeling her own heat condense about in her heavy breath. Meanwhile, her right hand sails gratuitously across and down his abdomen to his undergarments and her fingers molds around his member, kneading the fleshy suppleness of his manhood as it begins to tense in her grip through the fabric. Her left hand anchors onto his shoulder as she tries to clout her rising desire - to no avail. Eventually, she realizes that she is reflexly grinding her womanhood against his thigh. Then again. And again. Finally, she moans and mewls fitfully into the air in time to see Iroh awaken in drowsy arousal.

"Kateeri?" he manages to murmur through his confusion and then through an arduous groan as she deepens her molding against his member. "What-?!"

She grapples his face with her left hand and attacks him with fierce and fervent kisses and bites. She can feel his hesitation and his futile attempt to push her away to discern what was going on as he moans.

She responds by compelling his tongue with hers and her hips tread and her grasp kneads even harder.

Iroh finally breaks free of her lips, breathing hard and convulses against her as he ejaculates through the fabric into her hand.

"Wha-at are you doing?" he whimpers, his face contorted in fervid hot agony.

"Fucking with you," Kateeri mutters as she drinks in his facial discomfort and kisses his nape, then his chest. "Get on your back."

Without thinking, he complies and Kateeri crawls in between his legs. She lowers herself to remove his soiled garments with her sly hands – and with her teeth. Gazing up at him with lustful eyes, she descends down his thighs with his viscid clothes in between her lips.

Iroh bristles at the sight and turns abruptly away.

He clenches his teeth as he hides his embarrassment and arousal behind his large arms. He is surprised he doesn't get hard just from that alone. If he learned nothing else from his time with Kateeri, he had at least established that she likes to tease. And it riles him.

But tonight, instead her typical aloof provocation, Kateeri riles too. She does not remove the garments entirely and impatiently returns to his hips and gingerly captures his manhood within her tender fingertips.

"I want this. I want you. I want-," her voice is low, husky, wanting. She starts licking his member then sucking at it eagerly with heavy gasps.

"Kateeri-," he groans as she tastes him hungrily.

She continues for a time – licking off his cum with her tongue, exploring every svelte inch of his length with every inch of her supple and wet lips- until he hardens again as Iroh moans for who knows how long, sweating and writhing beneath her, crazed by her unusual open craving.

Arduously, Iroh looks up to see that she is touching herself and groaning into his member.

"Kateeri- stop," he sits up and gently treads his fingers into and through her hair.

She looks up, her eyes inebriated with desire. "But-."

"My turn," he simply orders and tenderly guides her to the edge of the bed as he inches off.

"You don't have to do this, Iroh," Kateeri mutters, slightly anxious of the forthcoming. Her legs dangle off the edge of the bed. "And you're still-."

"Kateeri," Iroh interrupts as he stands off the bed, towering over her. He gazes down upon her with fierce ardor and once again relishes that she always jolts into silence when he becomes Commander Iroh in private.

He smiles wryly, making her sensibilities flare into fearsome lust.

"Get on your back."

She obeys, realizing that only his smile and words instigated her to gasp laboriously as he removes whatever clothing that still veiled her from him. Then her gasping worsens when she feels his lips on her clit and his firm hands on her thighs.

Her whole body tightens in euphoria as he kisses her, tends to her and strokes her within her womanhood with his deft and thick tongue. Her breathing and puling hammers into the air along with the soft, wet sounds of his work.

"Iroh," she groans, "You-ah! I-! Please. Stop-!" Kateeri desperately clutches his hair while Iroh continues. Again, she begs him to cease. He responds by stroking deeper and grabbing and toying with the cheeks of her ass.

She gasps. "Agni-! AH." Her whole body arches, the balls of her feet dig into the pelts and the bed creaks beneath her as she moans her ascent into the covers.

Iroh approaches, his breath as staggered and heat-laden as hers, he positions himself at her hips, mustering everything within him to control and restrain his lust. Then he whispers to her, "Marry me."

"Hmm?!" she almost lurches up, propping up on her thin elbows.

"Marry me, Kateeri," he repeats, his grip returning to the flesh of her thighs.

"Iroh-," she pleads. "I- Ah!" He rubs himself against her clit. Purposefully.

Iroh again forces himself to a standstill and mutters, "I won't until you promise to marry me. I am not going to be the type of man who-."

She cuts him off by suddenly reaching up, forcefully pulling him down and conquering his lips. "Iroh, please-." He grinds against her again, she moans and frantically grapples onto his shoulders as her torso clenches beneath him.

"For Agni's sake, just put it in!" she insists.

He grunts in refusal, subduing the desire to kiss her and do as he would despite the fact that his member pulses with lascivious urgency. She slithers her hands down his chest and down to reach for his throbbing manhood. But he quickly captures her arms and grapples her wrists with a single grip.

"No," he says sternly. His other hand slithers down her thighs teasingly, deliberately mimicking her ways.

She arches into the pelts and groans, "You bastard."

Iroh just smirks, then nestles into her sensitive neck and shoulder, whispering seduction and worshipping her skin with ulterior nipping.

Kateeri whimpers in response, savoring the culminating pleasure as he begins to caress her waist, her back, her breasts.

Maybe he will just do it out of his own accord, Kateeri thinks as he grapples her and groans into her.

But he doesn't. He knows what she thinks. Instead, he just grinds against her again, taunting her lust with hindered satisfaction.

She nearly screams. "Fine! If Lord Zuko approves then-," she descends into an strained groan. "Please, Iroh! I-."

Iroh balks. In fact, he almost laughs. He finds and pecks her lips in a kiss – not devoid of passion but more full of sheer childlike joy than anything else. They both know that Zuko would readily agree to their union but Kateeri wanted some semblance of governance in the game that Iroh cheaply won. He knows he is being cruel and unfair but he could not resist to take advantage of this uncommon overwhelming moment of her uncontainable carnal appetite for him.

Finally, as he returns to her lips with eager kisses, his hands again on her thighs, her hands on his back, he enters her.

They both gasp silently into the fraught air as she takes him in slowly. Their breathing falters in hot, short spurts into the forgotten cold ether.

He pushes further in, her hands slide down his sumptuous skin to his ass and prods him even further.

"Am I…ugh," he exhales twice, "Am I hurting you?"

He tilts in slightly. She winces. He wonders if he should stop.

But, "No," she sighs through her clenched teeth, wallowing in the mix of pain and pleasure. "I've wanted you for so long-."

That's enough for him.

He thrusts into her suddenly – wholly, completely. He drowns in her and she flares against him. Then again and again. The room fills with the muted sonance of their moans, their gasps and their intertwining bodies.

"I love you," she mewls, feeling his scalding skin and sweat against her own.

"I love you," he whispers back.

Neither of them wonders about what might have been. Their only concern is their shared pleasures and affections, their dance of water and fire continuing for as long as they can while the sun claims the sky with the moon.


	10. Steady Strides

**Steady Strides**

Kateeri wakes to the sound of voices outside the door. She scrambles up to warn Iroh of the incoming danger of being discovered but finds the bed empty.

She snarls.

She hates it when he leaves her alone in bed like that.

"That fucking early riser," she grumbles as she quickly clothes herself then realizes that one of the voices through the door is actually Iroh's.

Then collective laughter.

A chill rises within her when she recognizes her mother's distinctive chortling and Lord Zuko's low and breathy chuckle.

"Shit" she seethes. Kateeri literally tumbles out of the pelts, throws a lumpy coat over her bare breasts, patting the inner pocket to check for a specific boxy lump, then jumps into a pair of trousers that she prays are hers.

In the quickest moment of her life, Kateeri bludgeoned through the door that led into the lobby of the healing hut.

Before she could see or process anything, she is met with a resounding "There she is!"

Immediately, Lord Zuko hugs her tenderly and Kateeri starts stuttering at the sudden display of affection. "My granddaughter-in-law!" he gently but excitedly shouts.

Things click.

She surveys the room and the faces of her mother, her extended family and finally, the perpetrator beam back at her as she mutters, "No…no, no, no, no," her gaze finally falls unto the human manifestation of all of her nightmares. "IROH."

Her grandmother, Katara, is holding Iroh's hands and both she and Iroh smile at her. Iroh's smile is slightly more mischievous, however.

Kya chuckles behind Lord Zuko then makes "Uncle Zu-Zu" release her daughter.

"We should just have it here," Chief Sokka asserted while nodding his head and crossing his arms. "Of course, _I_ 'll officiate it."

Lord Zuko swerves around to glare at his friend, appearing absolutely mortified. "Sokka, I'm afraid you are terribly mistaken if you think my grandson and his fiancée would have _you_ be the officiant. You are hardly related to them," he huffs.

Sokka returns the glare. "My dear and obviously _senile_ friend, your upstart grandson is going to be marrying _my_ great-nee-oh wait, is it grand-niece? Anyways! He will be marrying her on Water Tribe soil so-!"

"That hardly matters because this is an international wedding," Zuko fumes. "So-!"

"Either way," Katara steps in. "This is indicative of a greater question… Should we have a traditional Water Tribe wedding or a Fire nation one? I would love for them to be wed with Water Tribe garb but little Iroh _is_ a Fire Nation prince."

"Grandmother," Iroh calls to Katara with a forced smile, recalling all the times she called him 'little itty-bitty Iroh' when his grandfather would bring him along to Republic City or down south. "I'm not 'little Iroh' anymore," he breathily and bashfully complains.

"Aw, he calls me 'Grandmother'." Katara starts slapping his cheeks affectionately.

Iroh just accepts his fate as he cheeks redden from the continual smacking and says, "She and I were thinking of having an initial ceremony here and to have another one back in the Fire Nation for official records."

"Oh, I'm okay with that," Sokka chirps.

But Kateeri states aggressively, "No, _you_ decided."

"Then how do you wish to be wed, Kateeri-dear?" Katara asks, oblivious to her granddaughter's actual concerns.

"I-," Kateeri starts furrowing her eyebrows and biting her lip, which worries Iroh. Part of him suspects she might say that she does not want to get married after all (despite his brilliant and somewhat manipulative plan of getting her family members all on board to convince her).

She continues, "I didn't- I don't…"

His heart drops.

"Kateeri," Kya suddenly says and she places her hands on Kateeri's rising shoulders. "Honey, let's talk outside and leave the planning to the professionals."

Kateeri nods after a sigh and heads out into the cold while Kya follows but not without giving Iroh a nod of reassurance.

When Kya joins her daughter in the snow and as the sun beats down upon them, Kateeri buries her head into her mother's shoulder. Kya wraps her arms around her daughter and gently pats her head. For a lengthy moment, they just stay like that – in warm embrace. Until Kya asks, "So what's wrong?"

Kateeri takes a large and lengthy breath then whispers, "Mother, I'm barren. I won't make a suitable wife for him. I tried telling him this but-,"

Kya simply smirks.

Kateeri deadpans. "He told you already?"

"Yeah…He only told me and your Gran-Gran. He figured it was a touchy subject but assumed you trusted us enough to warn us that you might use this as an excuse. You were planning on telling me sometime?"

"Yes! But it's not an excuse! It's a reason-,"

"It was because of your grandmother, wasn't it?" Kya suddenly says soberly.

Kateeri pauses and nods. "Every healer I've been to says it's all psychological. That my body is perfectly healthy other than the fact that I barely ever get my menses. The specialist I went to see at Ba Sing Se mentioned that there was probably a spiritual block too."

Kya takes a deep breath in and out, surveying her daughter with pensive eyes. Then she softly asserts, "Kateeri, don't let her ruin your happiness any more than she has."

"I don't think I'll make him happy."

"I think you know you will."

"But I'm not nobility."

"Oh, my goodness," Kya scoffs. "As if. Your mother is the only daughter of Avatar Aang and _the_ Katara of the Water Tribe and your father was the heir to the Chang family. In fact, you might be the only suitable bride for Iroh Junior."

Kateeri blushes.

"Honey," Kya emphatically states while grasping her daughter's arms. "He _loves_ you and I know you try to hide it but you are head over heels for this kid. Can't fool your mother, you know."

"But-."

"Kateeri, he loves you with a loyalty I have not seen in men in ages. Normally I would tell you to brush him off because you know, _men_ , but goodness, this boy is special. Besides," she put her hands on her hips, "I already accepted him as my future son-in-law."

The young waterbender sighs. She decides to take it all in stride.

"Could you call him out here? I want to talk to him alone."

Kya nods and walks back into the healing hut to call said future son-in-law out. Kateeri overhears muted shouts thrown between Chief Sokka and Lord Zuko over who gets to pay for the ceremony until Iroh steps out into the chilling brisk air and closes the door behind him. He shivers and wraps the fur cloak Chief Sokka had lent him tighter against his shoulders.

Kateeri crosses her arms over her chest and bestows upon him a glare that made the air around Iroh feel even colder. He shivers again.

"What did you say to them before I woke up?" she simmers.

Iroh chuckles, then somewhat defensively comments, "I just walked out and your grandmother had brought breakfast so I just asked if she could bring the whole family to the hut to discuss some logistical matters because I wanted to marry you as soon as possible." He ends his defense with a slightly smug smile.

"Oh, spirits," she scoffs.

"But it all turned out, didn't it?"

She ignores him, "Are you feeling better?"

"Hmm?"

"Your wounds…are they still sore?"

"Oh," Iroh mutters, slightly confused. "Yeah, they're still a bit sore but I should be fine for-,"

"Good," Kateeri cuts him off and descends into a horse stance.

This scares Iroh.

"Kateeri?"

"I'll feel less guilty about beating you up if you are feeling better." The snow around them rises and flows into smooth and threatening water at her command.

Iroh the Second just purses his lips and accepts his fate.

A minute later, Kateeri returns to the hut with a large smile on her face.

* * *

Hours later, a final decision was still yet to be made.

Kateeri and Iroh had taken over most of the arguing from their older relatives and spent the entire morning discussing the logistics of their eventual union. These "discussions" bleed into their afternoon and into the evening when the two of them were on their way to join Chief Sokka and the others for dinner at his home… "in the suburbs."

As their carriage rushes through the snow-covered roads, Kateeri insists on waiting until their return to the Fire Nation so that an official ceremony – appropriate for the Fire Nation heir apparent – could be performed.

"Who knows how many officials and nobles you'll tick off by not inviting them to your practical _elopement_ ," Kateeri seethes.

"Since when did you start caring about what officials and nobility think?" Iroh rejoins, partially pouting. He further insists on a civil union in the Southern Water Tribe. "We can have an official ceremony back at home but don't you want your family to witness it?"

Kateeri sighs, "Iroh, you know that I barely know them. Not that I don't want them there. It's just…"

"It's going to take almost a month to sail back home," he quickly comments, "I honestly don't want to spend another month of you not being my wife." His gaze is insistent, overflowing and brimming with golden affection.

She purses her lips. "You know, most princes spend years preparing for their weddings."

"Met other princes, have you?" He smiles wryly and she blushes angrily.

Then she gathers her sanity back to herself and sighs, "Look, Iroh, I'm concerned and you should be too. We can't just rush into this."

He blinks. "What do you mean?"

"We never had an actual relationship outside of our stupid sexcapades and me deceiving you into thinking that I committed treason."

Iroh does not respond.

She continues, "We need actual time to be a couple – get to know each other, _talk_ to each other. The only time we've ever actually talked has been the past couple hours and we're just arguing about how we're going to get married."

"But we do _know_ each other," he contends. "We've known each other for years – almost decades."

"Do you really think so?" she argues, sadly.

She peers out of the small window of their carriage and at length, mutters. "Do you know what my favorite color is? That I have to eat dim sum on rainy days? That I like to swing-dance?"

Iroh is silent for a time.

Pensive thoughts wash across his face and he leans over, resting his forearms on his knees. He gazes at the floor of the coach. The low rumble of travelling across the ice fills the air between the blue-painted walls of the carriage.

Then he looks up at gazes at the woman he loves with his warm and gentle golden eyes. He reaches out and takes her hand and mutters slowly, "Your favorite color is wine red. You like the beef dim sum that only Chef Li Bao makes, and I saw you swing dancing with one of my officers a couple years ago at a dance club." He gently ungloves her hand and kisses it – slowly, surely and repeatedly. "Kateeri, I wouldn't marry someone I didn't know."

She simply smiles, pockets of joy overfilling her spirit at the evidence of his careful and loving watch over her.

Then he laughs – almost forlornly, "But you're right. You're always right. I don't even know what your favorite tea is." He ends his comment, again, with slightly burdened mirth.

She chuckles back. "I like barley tea," Kateeri states, matter-of-factly.

"No wonder you never touched the Jasmine I always leave you," Iroh exclaims, faking hurt.

"It's because I saved them," Kateeri retorts, defensively.

Iroh perks. "Really? You _saved_ them?"

Kateeri scowls. "Yes. Yes, I did." Then she brashly dramatizes, "As reminders of how unsuitable you were for me. I would have them on my shelf – all _twelve_ cannisters – mind you – to state 'Hey, this man-child who claims to be in love with you can't even get your favorite tea right! Be sure not to fall for him.'"

Iroh knows she jests but asks nonetheless, "You think I'm a man-child?"

"Just because you're quiet – doesn't mean you're mature."

"You think I'm immature."

"I _thought_ you were immature."

"But you fell in love with me nonetheless." He raises his brows suggestively.

"Eh, I think it's just because you're a good kisser. And I like your butt."

He chokes and begins coughing viciously as a blush as red as his coat filters his face. Trying to collect himself, he asks, "So why barley tea?"

Kateeri hums in thought for a moment then responds, "My grandmother said that barley tea was a poor man's drink and told me to order Jasmine or Chrysanthemum," she recalls as she takes Iroh's hands in hers. She laughs, "so I guess she ruined those for me." Then she ungloves one of his hands as gently as he did with hers. "But I think I like barley because it's rich, strong, and warm – not that tea _isn't_ warm – it just felt, I don't know, _satisfying_. And it always reminded me of home."

She brushes her lips against his knuckles and returns her gaze to him. "So I guess I like my tea like I like my men," she jokes with a large and balmy smile.

He reaches over to kiss her – their ungloved hands intertwining as they do.

"Look at us," Kateeri laughs after he releases her, "Finally having a conversation that doesn't end with us in just our underpants."

He frowns. "Alright," Iroh huffs, finally returning to his seat. "Let's, at least, get engaged."

"Sounds good. We can celebrate with my family tonight and tomorrow."

"Then we return to the Fire Nation and get married in three months."

Kateeri frowns. "We need at least a year where we need to try to be together," then she mutters quickly and bashfully, "…without all the sex."

"But we only actually did it last night," Iroh retorts. She punches him. "Fine. Ow. Six months."

" _Technically,_ you mass of hormones. One. _Year_ ," she insists.

"Seven months."

"At least ten!"

"Eight."

"…" Her icy glare returns.

"Ok, nine months."

Kateeri beams. "I would've been fine with eight."

* * *

At dinner, they announce their plans for their engagement to last until the spring of the next year with Lord Zuko and Chief Sokka as co-officiates at an official ceremony at the Fire Nation Palace.

"Which means tonight is your engagement party, right?" Sokka questions eagerly, already holding up two bottles of his finest rice wine.

Suki slaps him over the head and battles a bottle away to eventually give to the couple. "Why don't you save this one for the ceremony?" she recommends with a smile. "We'll just break into this one tonight."

" _Aw_."

"Sokka, I know you were just dying for an excuse to chug both of these sometime within the week but at least give one to them."

As Chief Sokka descends into explaining the quality of the wine, how it was imported from Omashu, how much he spent on them, and his eventual imploring of Kateeri and Iroh that they treasure it with their lives, the engagement party between Kateeri and Iroh the Second finally began.

Chief Sokka quickly rushes everyone into his parlor, turns up his gramophone and begins introducing everyone to everyone. Soon, the home bursts in the bustling of conversation, with family members and a few White Lotus members practically suffocating the young Fire Lord prince and his fiancée with questions and suggestions.

A few hours later, Tenzin – who had joined them for dinner - approaches his sister, who sits at the end of the large room, not-so-subtly drinking a tall glass of her uncle's liquor.

"Why didn't tell me you had a daughter?" Tenzin asks.

"Why do you think?" Kya rejoins, taking a swig.

The Air bender frowns and sits besides his sister with a labored sigh.

"You don't think I'm that judgmental, do you?"

"I used to. And who knows how dad would've reacted to me bringing home a teenage daughter," Kya muses then wryly eyes her younger brother. "But now that you're getting married to a girl _sixteen_ years younger than you – I have no qualms about showing off my new Fire Princess of a daughter."

Tenzin glowers through his intensely red complexion.

"I'm not exactly proud of myself either. But what Pema and I have is good."

With a cynical slip, Kya scoffs, "Even though you had to break Lin in half?"

Her younger brother pauses, sits down besides her, and sighs. He extends his hand out for her flask, which she hands to him.

"Like I said," he mutters then takes a swig (while hoping that their mother doesn't catch him). "I'm not proud and I'll never be proud of how I behaved towards Lin. But what I don't understand is why are you here, sulking, instead of enjoying this moment with your daughter."

Kya gestures for the return of her flask and Tenzin obliges. "Maybe I'm sad."

"Because you never got to do this with Kateeri's father?"

"Oh, Spirits, no. Not that. Maybe? I mean. There are just a lot of things I regret concerning Kateeri. I never got to raise her as well as I could have," Kya mutters, "Or …at least _should_ have."

Tenzin deliberates for a period then states regally, "I don't think anyone ever achieves in becoming a perfect parent."

Kya huffs out an affirmative then clinks glasses with her typically uptight brother (while scheming to get him roaring drunk within the hour).

* * *

 

At one point during the hub-bub, Katara asks Kateeri to follow her to an empty guest room – where she sees a pelt-lined box sitting upon a futon.

"Open it," Katara says while gesturing to the box.

Struck with uncertainty, Kateeri slowly approaches and slips the cover off the box and gasps at the sight of what lies inside.

Katara steps besides her as Kateeri draws a splendidly blue garment from the tissue-paper.

"This is my wedding robe," the elderly waterbender sang in her soft, leathery voice, "I saved it hoping that Kya could use it but she never got the chance to retrieve it while she was with your father. Still, I am so glad that you can,"

Kateeri sniffs. "Thank you, Gran-Gran, it's beautiful."

"And it makes me so happy thinking about how my future great-grandchild is going to have the blood of all four nations running through their veins."

The granddaughter chuckles, sadly and slightly bitterly. Kateeri looks forlornly onto the garment, gliding her fingers over the beads and tassels. "It might be a while before you get to see you're a great grandchild."

Katara's face breaks along with her aged heart. "Oh, darling, I'm so sorry," she places her arms around her granddaughter. "But you cannot let this define you. You don't need children to make you happy."

"I know," Kateeri meekly weeps. She forces a smile. "It still makes me sad."

"Oh, my darling, my sweet _sweet_ girl," Katara holds Kateeri closer so that her warmth can envelop her through the furs.

"I know that Lord Zuko and Princess Izumi love me and that they'll love me being his wife but…" A large, hefty, burden-ridden sigh slips through her teeth. "But I still feel so inadequate."

"I'm thinking this is a family trait," Katara muses with a little bit of mirth and takes her face in her hands. "You are more than adequate, Kateeri. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. You are strong, loving, beautiful, clever and kind. In these few moments, all of your strength and beauty has been made so clear to all of us, especially to me. You are bringing the families of two Avatars together. And you have the entire Fire Nation royal family under your thumb. That is no easy feat."

Laughter bursts from between them.

"The last time I saw Zuko that excited was when Izumi first started walking. _Years_ ago. Goodness. He was always such a daughter's fool."

Kateeri continues to laugh.

"I swear that whole family cannot decide whether to be incredibly angst-y or incredibly stoic."

Kateeri begins crying again, but now from laughing so heartily. Katara chuckles along with her and when their mirth slowly calms, she touches her forehead onto Kateeri's and smiles the world to her granddaughter.

"You love each other – everyone can see it by just watching how you look at each other. You have him, you have us, you have Zuko and Izumi. You have a family, Kateeri. And there are only two things you need to know about the family you have,"

Kateeri nods, seriously, waiting.

"Always be true to yourself, and," now Katara grins mischievously, "And if you two are going to screw that loudly…"

Kateeri's mouth drops.

"…Don't do it in my healing hut," Katara asserts with fake solemnity but then devolves into bemused laughter.

The young water bender buries her blushing cheeks into the robes and silently screams, conjuring ways to kill herself and Iroh in the quickest possible way.

* * *

The night eventually spirals into calm, with the room sparking with occasional laughter and reminiscence among the members of the two families as all the other guests left.

"Right, your present!" Kateeri flails around and fishes into her pockets until she finds a small package wrapped in brown paper. "I've kept it on my person ever since I left the Capital," she announces as she presents it to him with a smile.

Lord Zuko gingerly unwraps the package and sees an ornament nestled in its folds. Then he gets a good look at it, jolts, and the package goes up in flames.

"Whatcha do that for?!" Chief Sokka cries as he tries to get a good look at what it was.

Kateeri flatly comments, "Good thing it's flame-retardant,"

Zuko immediately closes his other hand over it as he stares at her in horror. Then he quickly stuffs the charred pieces of paper and the ornament into the folds of his robe.

"No! What is it!? I need to know!" Sokka shouts, grabbing his friend by his collar and starting to reach in inappropriate places on the Fire Lord's body.

"Sokka, please refrain from touching me," Zuko insists as he turns a resplendent red.

Katara chuckles from her seat.

"What is it?" Iroh leans over and asks his fiancée. "I've never seen grandfather act like this."

Kateeri just smiles, "It's hardly a mystery but I guess it's still a secret."

When Lord Zuko returns to his room in the Southern Water Tribe Palace, he sighs and then pulls out his daughter's gift, peering at it as it sits in his hands. He sighs.

It is a pendant that looks suspiciously like a Water Tribe betrothal necklace with a flame and wave entwining carved into the wood. Upon more meticulous investigation, he realizes that it is a clasp to go over an existing necklace.

He sighs.

He got the message.

He didn't realize how observant his daughter or his potential granddaughter-in-law were.

Later the next day, when he helps Kateeri clamber onto Druk to return to the Fire Nation, she asks if he would make use of the present any time soon.

The Fire Lord coughs awkwardly then composes himself and states, "I think one wedding of this kind is enough for a while."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG....it's been two years. Geez. Sorry - life just gets in the way, infinitely. 


End file.
